I dont think the approach to sex ed should be abstinance only. Not that abstinance is a bad thing (and if it is your thing- more power to ya) but it is not everybodys thing. I think sex ed should be taught with an emphasis on both. That is what I had in school sex ed class. They said (when I took sex ed) that abstinance is best, *BUT * if you decide to have sex use protection and talked about contraception forms.
anywho… weak rant (sorry) I just had to get it out somewhere
Weak rant, but an important issue: Yet another example of our president increasing federal spending to further the social agenda of the Christian Right.
*Just thought that I would get that out of the way before the usual suspects show up to explain why Bush 2.0 is the greatest thing since the invention of the orgasm.
LVgeogeek, I’m not a big “teach abstainance only” kind of guy myself, but I’m curious about the second quote. I’m not sure I understand the relationship between the type of sex ed program and the frequency of student sex. According to the survey, when ab. only was taught, the frequency of sex doubled. So, if they were to teach condom use, sex frequency should cut in half?
-Bruce, who is opposed to the government spending money to further any cause in public schools.
Shhhhhhh…we must not mention those things in front of the children, it might get the little kiddies all fired up. Sheesh, you’d think that with a past as bawdy as King George’s he’d understand that abstinance only programs fail on almost all fronts.
::Groan::
What is the deal with the sex deniers in this country? Sex exists. People have it. Often, teenagers have it too. Negative consequences can be greatly reduced, if not eliminated, with just a bit of education and support.
I went to a small Catholic gradeschool and even we had extensive sex-ed classes in our eigth-grade year. Including information on all of the birth control options out there, as well as STDs, relevant slang, and homosexuality. There were zero complaints.
Sending young, hormonal, and perenially horny kids out into the battlefield that is high school without even the most basic knowledge about how to deal with the practical issues surrounding their sexuality is stupid. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.
Bruce_Daddy, I kind of look at it this way… If you tell a person that something is bad (i.e., don’t have sex, don’t do drugs, don’t drink underage, etc…) the more appealing that “forbidden” thing is going to be to said person.
If people are told that by having sex that yes you can get pregnant/STD’s/HIVAIDS (kind of like a truth and consecuences think) and that abstinence is the only 100% way to prevent but, in reality not all people are going to abstain from sex. But if you tell them how to most likely prevent becoming pregnant/ getting STD’s/HIVAIDS by using protection those that are going to have sex will be better prepared to protect themselves in real life.
If you teach both, then people can make an educated choice on sex either to abstain or use proper protection if not abstaining from sex.
**Bianarydrone ** I dont hate America, I just dislike GW’s policy toward certain things
Given the statistical illiteracy of the average journalist, who in the hell knows what the Minnesota study showed. I can’t find the study on their web site. (Not necessarily surprising given the political hot potato the Minnesota Department of Public Health website has been recently).
I figured you were making a joke about the “Bush fanatics” telling me I hate America because I disagree with GW (I hit sumbit instead of preview so I didn’t get that part typed)
I go to a public high school and I have gone to public schools all my life. In my opinon there is nothing that will stop teenagers from having sex. The best we can do is educate everyone about the dangers that you face. I had a health teacher my freshman year that (with permission of parents) showed us pictures of what std’s do to your body. Scared the hell out of me and most of my classmates. I would even go as far to say that it prevented some from having sex. If you have to have it use protection is what I was told and there have been no pregnancies at my school in the last five years. Maybe this can be attributed to this teachers education.
Perhaps we should continue to have abstinence only sex-ed classes, but–for males, anyway–hold them in Mozambique. There’s a good chance that they’d strictly adhere to the abstinence policy afterwards, they’d learn something about a different culture, and the US would come off has a country that loves and respects the traditions of foreign nations, for once.
