America's Sex-Ed Controversy: Can You Teach Consent?

(CBS News) -- When Amy Fortier-Brown took a sex education class in high school, she learned how to avoid getting pregnant and how to protect herself from STDs. Before that, she learned abstinence in her middle school health classes. She doesn't remember learning anything about consent, sexual assault or what to do if it happened to you until college.

But by then, she says, it was too late. She'd been assaulted by someone she was dating in high school.

In recent years, the issue of consent — what it means, and how it is given — has become a cultural topic of conversation. Significant increases in the number of reported sexual assaults on college campuses and the #MeToo movement have left many wondering, how can we prevent these situations from happening in the first place?

Some believe a different approach to sex education could help. There is no federal regulation mandating sex ed or what should be taught. Each state is left to decide on its own guidelines and what the curriculum should be. Individual school districts then choose how to implement that curriculum.