6 Federal legislation does not define sexual activity when it requires sexuality education classes to teach that abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage is the expected standard for all school-age children. Federal requirements assume that young people will not learn about sexuality from any source other than sexuality education classes. Legislators and congressional staff do not acknowledge the world in which young people live. If they did, they would hesitate to push, as an ultimate value , something that is actually a norm . Moreover, it is a norm that is contradicted by nearly every television show, movie, popular magazine, song, or music video that young people see, hear, or read.
Young people learn about sexual expression nearly everywhere they turn in society.
In such programs, they learn instead about a single congressionally mandated standard that is at odds with nearly every other sexuality message they receive from the society in which they live. By contrast, a recent nationally representative poll found that 56 percent of U.S. adults agreed that sexual intercourse should be reserved for a committed, monogamous relationship, whether or not people are married. Only 33 percent believed that sexual intercourse should occur only within marriage. Comprehensive sexuality education rests upon certain core values, including Every individual has dignity and self-worth. Sexual relationships should never be coercive or exploitative.