Now that Fox News are running a report saying abstinence only education doesn't work,?

Question

Can we put an end to this silly 19th century puritan approach to educating our children and put an extra $141million towards teaching reality?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,308898,00.html

Answer 1

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071107/ap_on_re_us/teen_sex

I agree emphatically with you on this one. it's way past time that we stop teaching children the religiously approved approach to sex education and start teaching them the reality approved approach.

We (supposedly) believe in freedom of expression. So it is a mixed signal to teenagers when we tell them that they are free to express theirselves so long as they do what we tell them to do. If we do want to control the lives of our teenagers, then we would need to philosophically abandon the principles of freedom of expression, and import a radical Islamic brand of conservatism that levies extreme punishments against Women who are considered to be morally unpure.

So long as we teach children that they have freedom, they are going to have sex. Teaching abstinence is worse than not teaching anything at all, because it wastes money and accomplishes the exact same thing. Because teaching abstinence A: passes judgement for the teenager ("you will have sex when WE tell you that you are ready!") and B: treats sex as a forbidden fruit. It doesn't explore the real consequences of engaging in such activity. Thus when teenagers actually do become sexually active, they are unaware of the dangers and consequences. All they remember is their pastor and frantic parents screaming at them that the devil wants them to have sex outside of marriage. And because college is a time when they peak intellectually, and are at their most independent, but before cynicism, disillusionment, and fear of the inexorable approach of death drives them back to religion, they are going to ignore the silly tall tales that their pastor used to frighten them when they were children. But because their sex education was run by people beating the drum of abstinence, they will have no secular reason to avoid having sex.

When there is a proper sex education system in place, teenagers are taught the real consequences of sex: the possibility of pregnancy, STDs, and emotional trauma. So when a teenager is faced with the prospect of sex, faith isn't the only thing holding them back; they know the real reasons to avoid it, or to practice it safely.

Is it any wonder that studies show that, religion-wise, the most sexually promiscuous people in colleges are evangelicals and Catholics, and the most reserved are the protestants and Jews?

Its past time for a reality-based approach to sex education, instead of a religion-based (re:non-reality) approach. In an ideal world, I would say that this sort of thing should be left to the parents, but in my experience, most parents are too afraid of confronting the reality that sooner or later, their children will become sexually active.

Answer 2

While there may be not anything mistaken with instructing abstinence as an amazing means of fending off undesirable pregnancies, we all know from the final five,000 years that persons may have intercourse in general without reference to the tradition's marriage customs. A well schooling approximately the field, adding STDs, abortion, beginning manage, household making plans, accountability and many others from each the mothers and fathers and the university techniques is regularly the pleasant protection.

Answer 3

Here is a 21st century approach to try(actually good old common sense). Parents stop ignoring reality and teach their own children the facts of life. That is the problem,too many just ignore it in the hopes it won't happen to their kid. Just telling them they are not allowed because you say so won't solve the problem. There are some problems in life that are not politically,financially or religiously biased.
Why can't more parents take responsibility for their children? The schools are there for academics,not to teach morals or replace the parent.

Answer 4

Probably not. Too many people are still insisting on clinging to the fantasy that teenagers will not have sex if you just withhold information and access to birth control.

It never worked in the past - that's why there were so many shotgun weddings in the 50s (leading to many divorces in the 60s.)

I wish the conservatives would just be like the Amish - live their own life, but allow other people to live our lives.

Answer 5

I never thought abstinece only classes works. That would mean curbing teenage hormones, the affects of partying and lets not forget the age old peer presure. I would think we could solve centuries old prejudices against countries first. Also we are not talking about giving the pill to every 11 year old child, but making sure that teenagers get all the options on the table. People need to face this one simple fact. Teenagers are going to have sex (for the reasons mentioned above), that is about as guranteed as death and taxes.

Answer 6

I was so very glad to see this report! It is what I have been saying all along. If we send our teens out into the world without the education they need to protect themselves, then we have a recipe for disaster. Nobody is advocating giving the students birth control as they walk into Jr High that first day. But giving them the education they need to make considered decisions about their sexual life can only make them think a bit before they have the first sexual encounter.


To Vinny: If the 11 yr old is having sex, then yes, let's give her the pill so she doesn't become a 12 yr old MOTHER!

To the poster just below me: No one is saying we are selling them short. We just want them to have enough information to make the right decision for them. You want to research things before you make important money decisions, right? Then why would you want to handicap teens by keeping from them the info they need to make perhaps the most important decisions in their lives?

Answer 7

This type of information has been known for many years based on studies conducted in European countries analyzing their low teenage pregnancy rates. Why does it take so long for conservatives to acknowledge reality. They’re always way behind the times and burdening the progress of the country with their antiquated thinking.

Answer 8

Abstinence only is the proper way to teach sex education in school. I believe that you should always teach the "ideal" when you are teaching children. There are plenty of people who will teach "lowest common denominator", but, it is important that the expectation of excellence be taught as well.
The only real way to avoid sexual problems is to avoid sex. Anything else is fooling yourself.
Just as we don't allow 10 year olds to drive cars, we shouldn't have the going in assumption that they are going to have sex anyway, so we should teach them that everyone else is, so they should too, and this is how they can protect themselves.
They are not ready to make the kind of decisions that are required of the sexually active, and to some of them, having a living, breathing doll to play with doesn't seem like a bad idea.
If we teach the expectation of abstinence, and then follow it up with community support for the idea that sex before marriage is a bad idea, we might get somewhere. Now we teach that abstinence is good, but the TV tells them that it is stupid, and they are encouraged to dress to entice sexual interest, and to behave in sexual ways, and we make all kinds of provisions for the results of sexual activity among the children, we are shooting ourselves in the feet, because we have no consequences for mis-behavior. We, the society is sending a very mixed message, and then we wonder why the children are listening.

Answer 9

The research shows that the current education is no better then the prior one which was your solution. Clearly an entirely new approach needs to be taken. Parents need to be educated and teens needs to be watched more closely.

Answer 10

We should but the invisible sky god worshipers will not allow it. Living in reality is something they just cannot do or allow others to do.