It's a debate that has re-ignited across America since the announcement of Sarah Palin as John McCain's VP, and one that needs to be looked at seriously.

Background: Since 1996 $1,500,000,000 has been spent annually on abstinence-only education by the federal government. Half of the money spent ends up in southern states such as Texas; which also has one of the highest number of teen pregnancies in the United States. Mainly Republicans and religious intuitions have led the fight for abstinence only education. This method has been proven to be ineffective in delaying sex, and leaves Americas children more exposed and unprepared when the time comes for sex as has been shown in countless government sponsored studies.

Leading researchers point out that it's time to re-examine sex education in our nation and make the proper changes to reduce the number of STDS (According to a recent study every 1 in 4 teenage girls has some type of STD) as well as reduce the number of teen pregnancies.

Researchers cannot stress enough the importance of parents being actively involved with their children about sex education, even though it may be something that is extremely difficult to talk about.

"As much as we fight about sex education, we actually know very little about it in the real world," says Sarah Brown, CEO of the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy.

Remember:

Debate Question: If you do have children, what will you teach them about sex, and what do you want the school to teach your children?