en. In her essay she states that, "teens who are exposed to risks need and deserve the best means possible for protecting themselves: knowledge, skills, and access to latex condoms" (Clark 117). I strongly agree with her point that something must be done, and that teens deserve the best possible protection. Condoms should be made readily available to adolescents, but schools are not the place to distribute them. School is a place for education; students should be taught about the dangers of sex, and be informed about where they can receive condoms. There are numerous free health clinics and similar places that readily provide free condoms to adolescents. If condoms were provided in the schools, I think that it would be made as more of a joke than a serious issue. Distributing condoms in schools makes it seem like sex is OK, which is not the message we want to convey to our youth.Another point that Clark addresses is changing the culture of our youth. In order to accomplish this, she believes that the school should be a place where students can openly talk about sex, and also receive information on the subject. I agree with this point, but I also believe that changing the culture of our youth involves a lot more. If we are going to "change adolescent culture" we need to teach them responsibility. In the instance that a student decides to engage in sexual activity, it needs to be their responsibility to obtain and use condoms during sex. Teaching students about the risks and consequences of sex is another major step in changing their culture. I believe that schools should be responsible for informing students on these subjects. If we can educate teenagers about the risks of not using protection and inform them where they can obtain condoms, this would be a major step in the fight against sexually related problems.Although I do not agree with all of Clark's ideas, we do have a common interest: to stop the threat of sexually r...
