One of the hottest topics for the last year has been the new guidelines for health and sex education in New Jersey. While parents have been the most vocal about what they see as a policy that has gone too far, a survey of recent New Jersey graduates gives high marks to the education they received on the subject.
A Fairleigh Dickinson University poll of people ages 18 to 30 released Dec. 21 found this cohort who went to high school in New Jersey give high marks to the sex education that they got in school—but with are striking differences in how men and women rate the content—and are less likely than young people nationwide to say that their teachers pressured them to hold liberal or “woke” views.
The online survey of 1,678 respondents found women were less happy with the quality of the sex education they received in New Jersey, being more likely to say that there was too much content designed to scare them and that there was inaccurate information presented. Still, New Jersey’s sex education seems to be outpacing programs nationally, with young people in the Garden State being more likely to say that they got information about birth control.
Students Perspective
“Politicians have been fighting over New Jersey’s sex ed curriculum for years now,” said Dan Cassino, a professor of Government and Politics at FDU, and the Executive Director of the Poll. “But people who actually went to high school here recently seem pretty happy with it.”
Forty-seven percent of young men and 38% of young women who went to high school in New Jersey say that they got “about the right amount” of information about birth control from their sex ed classes, compared to 40% of young men and women nationally. Comparable numbers of young people in New Jersey and nationally said that they didn’t get enough information about birth control, with women being much more likely to say that they would have wanted more.
Birth Control
Forty-eight percent of women who went to school in New Jersey, and 42% of those who went to school elsewhere say that they didn’t get enough information about birth control, compared with 34% of men in New Jersey and 32% of men who went to high school elsewhere.
Those who went to high school in New Jersey were also less likely to say that they didn’t get any information about birth control at all: outside of the Garden State, 15% said that they didn’t get any information, compared to just 11% in New Jersey.
“Reducing the rates of teen pregnancy has generally been one of the major goals of sex ed,” said Cassino. “There are more options for women than there are for men, so it makes sense that young women are looking for more information.”
Scare Tactics
Interestingly, while New Jersey’s sex education curriculums have recently been reformed to increase the discussion of topics like birth control, the youngest people in the survey are less likely to say that they got information about it. Seventeen percent of 18- to 21-year-olds say that they got no information on the subject, compared to just 4% of those in the 26- to 30-year-old group.
One criticism of sex education is that it can focus on trying to scare students, rather than providing information. New Jersey graduates are about as likely as those outside of the state to say that they got “too much” information that was supposed to scare them, with 14% of respondents saying that they got too much of it.
There is a substantial sex gap in these responses: 17% of women in the state say that they got too much information that was supposed to scare them, compared with 8% of men.
Accurate Information
The survey additionally asked young people if the information they received in sex ed was accurate, inaccurate, or outdated.
New Jersey high school graduates were more likely than those outside of the state to say that they got accurate information from their sex ed classes as 80% who went to school in New Jersey agree that they got accurate information, compared with 70% of people who went to school elsewhere.
There is no real difference, however, in the amount of inaccurate information those who went to high school in New Jersey and elsewhere say that they got in sex ed. Men—both in New Jersey and nationally—were more likely to agree that their sex ed included inaccurate information.
Updated Curriculum
“If students don’t trust the information they’re getting in sex ed, there’s no point in doing it,” opined Cassino. “These students are saying that they got a mix of accurate and inaccurate information, and that looks like a real problem.”
Young people in New Jersey and nationwide were about equally likely to say that they got outdated information from their sex ed classes. Twenty percent of men who went to school in New Jersey, and 19% of women “strongly agree” that they got outdated information, no different than the figures for those who went to high school elsewhere.
Women in New Jersey, though, were more likely to think that information they got was at least somewhat outdated, with 70% “strongly” or “somewhat” agreeing that it was outdated, compared with 56% of men in the state.
No Woke Pressure
New Jersey respondents are less likely than young people nationally to say that their high school teachers tried to push them to hold liberal or “woke” views about topics like sex, sexuality, race and U.S. history. Just 25% of young people in the Garden State say that their teachers tried to indoctrinate them, less than the 36% of young men and 30% of young women nationwide who say the same.
Most young people who went to school in New Jersey (62% of young men and 57% of young women) say that their teachers didn’t try to indoctrinate them.
“Results like this are a Rorschach test,” said Cassino. “You can look at this and say that students in New Jersey are less likely to say that they’re getting indoctrinated; but you can just as easily look at that 25% who say that they are, and raise the alarm.”
Private Schools Pushing Backlash?
While the specter of liberal teachers pushing their political views on students is highly politicized, this difference in perceptions can’t be explained just by partisanship.
New Jersey Republicans and Democrats are both less likely to say that their teachers tried to push these kinds of views. In New Jersey, 25% of Democratic young people say that their teachers tried to push views on them, alongside 36% of Republicans. For young people outside of New Jersey, those figures are 35% and 44%.
The poll found that young people who went to public high schools were less likely to report pressure to hold liberal views than those who attended private, religious, or other forms of high school.
While the number of young people who attended non-public high schools are relatively small, they’re still significantly more likely to say that their teachers wanted to indoctrinate them with liberal views: 24% of people who went to public high schools in New Jersey say so, compared with 35% of those who had other arrangements for high school. This is mirrored in the national data, where 34% of public school attenders said that they saw pressure to hold these views, compared with 47% of other respondents.
Perception Problems
“It’s possible that people outside the public school system are more sensitive to perceived pressure, or maybe they’re getting more of it,” said Cassino. “Either way, this doesn’t seem to be an issue that’s limited to the public school system.”
People who went to high school in New Jersey more recently are more likely to say that they faced some degree of indoctrination. Exactly one-third of 18-21-year-olds in the state say that they felt pressure from teachers, compared with just 15% of those between the ages of 26 and 30.
Cassino explained this could be a result of a reflection in a change in the classroom experience, perceptions of that experience, or a change in the views of the youngest adults in the survey.
“Whether indoctrination is happening or not, the perception that it’s happening has a real impact,” he said. “No one is monitoring what’s going on in the classrooms, so lawmakers and the public are going to make up their minds based on these kinds of perceptions.”
beyond simple biology, the state meaning NJ or anyother political jurisdiction has NO role to play in teaching under age kids ( under 18 ) about birth control, abortion , transgenderism or any other sex education related topic period
The schools certainly seem to be offering these overstimulated teenagers plenty of information about how to have sex without consequences. But I didn’t notice the word “abstinence” mentioned anywhere in the article. I’m sure it’s just an oversight.
Dirk really wants to wait until kids are 18 to teach them about reproductive biology and psychology. James thinks there’s not enough fear-based sex education (that’s what pushing abstinence boils down to).
Meanwhile, in the real world, kids are exposed to misinformation about sex and sexuality from their peers to their role models to their parents’ porn accounts. Giving elementary school kids an understanding of consent and care for their companions, giving high school kids an accurate understanding of biology (which is more complicated than XX means girly and XY means manly), and giving all kids information they can trust so that they don’t turn to the pron industry for information can only be a good thing.
It’s the parents’ responsibility to properly educate their children. Not the state, Hillary.