Sexual education courses should be mandatory for all students in college, as the minor amount of information given in earlier courses at grade school levels does not provide enough intelligence to the subject.

Despite the fact that a majority of college students have already become sexually active, sexual education courses that are required in both middle and high school are not informative enough for the students in the long run.

While the basics may have been covered in earlier courses, important facts regarding both personal health and relationships are blatantly left out due to the lack of maturity at the time of the education.

In college, students should be mature enough to understand the seriousness of a multitude of things that tie along with being sexually active, from STDs to condoms to prevent both diseases and pregnancies.

According to the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), sexually active adolescents and young adults from the ages of 10-24 are at the highest risk of getting an STD.

Also, out of the 19 million new STDs each year, nearly half of them are in young adults between the ages of 15 and 24.

With a majority of the students on the Cerritos College campus falling directly into this age range, awareness and education are needed to keep students informed about what is happening with their bodies.

A more serious look at not only the health issues that can result from unsafe sexual practices but the consequences on young lives should be discussed inside of a classroom, and is necessary moving forward.

With the exception of health classes that some students may take in order to obtain a major, a lot of people miss out on vital information about their sexual health that Cerritos College should offer them to make for a healthier campus.

According to familyfirstaid.org, thirty four percent of women become pregnant before the age of 20, with eight in ten of these pregnancies being unintended.

Pregnancies force student drop outs, which is not only bad for the student and the child but it also makes the college look bad.

Of course, some students may not walk away with any more information than they already knew in regards to their sexual health after completing the course.

However, the impact that this course could have in possibly saving someones life completely outweighs the possibility of a few students already having enough awareness for their own well-being.

Instead of only taking classes that may be general education and filled with information that you will never use later on in life, students should jump at the opportunity to take a class that will make them more informed on both their personal health and how to stay healthy with their partner(s) moving forward.

The introduction of sexual education courses at Cerritos College could make for a smarter, healthier and happier community, and enable students to graduate with not only their degree but the knowledge of how to be smart and healthy in their personal lives.