In the wake of a mass shooting in a Houston suburb that claimed the lives of five people, including a child, a tweet by Texas parent and writer Jenny Lawson criticizing the state’s education system has gone viral. Lawson’s tweet highlights how the state of Texas has canceled sex education classes for the academic year but mandates schools to offer bleeding control training to children, including tourniquets approved for use in battlefield trauma care.
This requirement comes from Texas House Bill 1147, which would provide for a school district or open-enrollment charter school to maintain and make available bleeding control stations designed for use in traumatic injuries involving blood loss. While some advocates argue that this legislation is a necessary measure in light of increasing gun violence in the state, many critics point out that this is yet another example of Texas’ failure to address the root causes of the problem.
Furthermore, advocates claim that even with the recent updates made to the sex education curriculum in 2020, Texas’ sex education standards are still inadequate. Some districts, like one in Fort Worth, have opted not to offer sex education this academic year, while others, such as a district in North Texas, use programs that focus solely on the risks of premarital sex and the value of healthy marriage relationships.
Critics warn that Texas’ “opt-in” requirement for human sexuality instruction, established in 2021, could result in some students missing out on critical information. Texas currently has the ninth-highest teen pregnancy rate in the country, and the state ranks second for repeat teen births, indicating a need for comprehensive and inclusive sex education.
Advocates have also noted that Texas’ sex education standards fail to adequately address contraception methods other than abstinence. Lessons on consent and inclusive language for LGBTQ+ students are also not included in the current standards. As such, critics argue that Texas’ approach to sex education remains problematic and ultimately contributes to the state’s high rates of teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections.