Apparently someone misses abstinence education
As The Enquirer continues to push the abstinence debate forward, I start to appreciate the fact that we have blogs – it's the only way the truth can come out some times.
I wasn't a teen all that long ago (I'm now 23) and I guess that makes it easy for me to see why abstinence education is silly. Had my school not had the common sense to teach me about condoms, STDs and the emotional reactions teens experience with sex, I wouldn't have been armed to make smart decisions. Thanks to a simple health class that taught the facts, I'm not a baby's daddy and I've never had Chlamydia.
Yes abstinence is an option. But it's hardly "part of a curriculum." It's a couple sentences that should be dropped in amongst valid, useful information – like how to avoid the clap.
More importantly, the state doesn't need to provide funding to teach abstinence. What does the money go towards? Mandatory artificial pregnant bellies for horny teens to wear around school as a reminder of consequences?
What I haven't seen in The Enquirer's coverage of the abstinence education debate is, well, the other side. They continue to cite numbers of decreased pregnancy:
These are compelling stats, but there's no iron-clad proof that abstinence education is the responsible party. The Dean of Cincinnati points out with the Cincinnati marijuana issue, numbers games are easy to play.
What questions aren't answered by the MSM here? For starters, what percentage of female teenagers are on birth control? Has this number increased? Has Planned Parenthood (or other similar groups) been forced to order more condoms because more kids are coming in to get them?
Citing the stats is helpful, but crediting them to something that may or may not be responsible is intellectually dishonest.
At least Governor Strickland is more realistic than the editorial board at The Enquirer. Once the board starts telling the whole story, I'll start listening to them. Until then, it's just an opinion.
I wasn't a teen all that long ago (I'm now 23) and I guess that makes it easy for me to see why abstinence education is silly. Had my school not had the common sense to teach me about condoms, STDs and the emotional reactions teens experience with sex, I wouldn't have been armed to make smart decisions. Thanks to a simple health class that taught the facts, I'm not a baby's daddy and I've never had Chlamydia.
Yes abstinence is an option. But it's hardly "part of a curriculum." It's a couple sentences that should be dropped in amongst valid, useful information – like how to avoid the clap.
More importantly, the state doesn't need to provide funding to teach abstinence. What does the money go towards? Mandatory artificial pregnant bellies for horny teens to wear around school as a reminder of consequences?
What I haven't seen in The Enquirer's coverage of the abstinence education debate is, well, the other side. They continue to cite numbers of decreased pregnancy:
Ohio's program has been considered a national model, and supporters point to the reduction in teenage pregnancies in recent years. In Ohio, teen pregnancy rates have decreased from 42.3 pregnancies for every 1,000 females between the ages of 10-19 in 1997 to 33.1 in 2005.
These are compelling stats, but there's no iron-clad proof that abstinence education is the responsible party. The Dean of Cincinnati points out with the Cincinnati marijuana issue, numbers games are easy to play.
What questions aren't answered by the MSM here? For starters, what percentage of female teenagers are on birth control? Has this number increased? Has Planned Parenthood (or other similar groups) been forced to order more condoms because more kids are coming in to get them?
Citing the stats is helpful, but crediting them to something that may or may not be responsible is intellectually dishonest.
At least Governor Strickland is more realistic than the editorial board at The Enquirer. Once the board starts telling the whole story, I'll start listening to them. Until then, it's just an opinion.
Labels: Cincinnati, media, Ohio politics
Abstinence education was taught at my high school. Coming from one of the most conservative counties in the country it was quite extreme.
The class itself was taught from a moral perspective. It was explained that 'good' people waited to have sex. It was very christian in nature and rejected homosexuality. We had many speakers come in and we were pressured into signing abstinence cards. Studies have shown abstinence cards have no effect in teenagers having sex.
My class was told point blank that we were too dumb to know how to use a condom correctly. Instead of teaching us how to use a condom (my mom was taught this in the 1970s in her health class), they just told us not to have sex. We were given inncorrect statistics about stds as well. Birth control was mentioned once. The teacher told us that it was not 100% effective and that we would still get pregnant. The way that birth control works was not discussed either. Diaphrams were also mentioned but they made them seem more scary than anything else. We were told that the only way was abstinence.
The curriculum was completely based on scare tactics. We were showed literally hundreds of pictures of stds. Instead of encouraging public health they made test for stds seem incredibly painful. We watched videos that said point blank, "If you are having sex you need to be ready to die" Instead of discussing prevention of these diseases, they just told us that we would get them and there was no real way to stop them.
The only emotion that was talked about was regret. They said that no matter who we had sex with, if it was before marriage we would regret it and feel dirty. They said that if you were a girl you would spend the rest of the night crying. Orgasms were never brought up.
I am more than thrilled that Gov. Strickland is doing something about this dangerous and ineffective program. It is a public health issue and teens need to know how to keep themselves healthy whether they decide to remain abstinent or have sex.
Posted by Anonymous | 4:38 PM