Jolie.Hauteur

Snoop is correct, everyone else go home.

kayleealia

Abstinence-only sex ed is the biggest crime to ever happen to man (& woman...haha).

My school doesn't teach sex-ed at ALL, and do you know what they call us?

"Knock-'em-up-is".

jaso9n2

Exactly. It seems like liberals are always about "more education", when it's not "education" that will help these kids. I don't disagree that kids have to know (to some degree) about birth control and condoms in order to use them, but, for real...you could go to the ghetto-est school in your town or state and do a poll asking kids do they know what condoms and birth control are and I bet most of them will know. Between the Internet, MTV, porn being more pervasive, and sometimes kids just catching their parents talking or something, do you seriously think there's a 15 year old out there who doesn't know what a condom is, or what the basic function of birth control is? I don't.

"I don't care" isn't "I don't know" because one thing about it: they know they probably shouldn't be sleeping around at their age anyway. When I was 16, I probably couldn't tell you exactly where one would go to get birth control pills, but I also knew kids our age shouldn't be sleeping around in the first place.

i_wanna_be_Brown

but i bet you the "ghetto-est kids" will tell you that condoms are no more effective than pulling out, and that they aren't worth it cuz they take away feeling. THAT IS IGNORANCE.

Son of Opie

... it's not difficult.

Abstinence only education is like telling kids never to ride a bike because they could fall, even though there are helmets and kneepads and all kinds of protective gear. Yes, you might still get hurt, but the training and safety gear can help reduce the risk.

And besides, riding a bike feels good.

Son of Opie

There's a difference between knowing that condoms and birth control exist, and knowing how to use them, and where to get them. Most high school kids also "know" things that make perfect sense to them, but have no basis in reality.

imaparasite

My high school gives out condoms and birth control. All you need is a signature from your parent at the beginning of the year saying that you can receive "any applicable services" from the health center. But I mean, it's a signature. Anyone who wants it can get protection at my school.

It's like 90% democrat or something though.

Son of Opie

Are you saying teen pregnancy was lower back in "the good ol' days"?

karabear1

Ah yes, the good ol' days. The days when women who slept around were shunned from society and uppity minorities didn't pester us with things like "rights" and "equality."

(sarcasm - in case it isn't obvious)

jaso9n2

I still think people politicize the issue. Kids know about condoms and birth control, they just don't care. The issue isn't, "oh they just don't know how to put on a condom; they don't know where to get birth control pills." There's the Internet...I know Myspace isn't hurting for teenagers to get online. There's friends. There's health class. It's not that hard.

kyledavid80

Nice generalization.

There's more to a comprehensive sex-ed class than knowledge of condoms and birth control--they know what those are, so that isn't the problem.

Heh, I remember in my 8th-grade sex-ed class, my teacher showed us a slideshow of STD-infected genitals. It was quite effective, I think.

afruff23

Isn't that what I and many others in this thread have been arguing? It has more to do with lack of foresight, a comfy life regardless of choices, etc than bad/no sex ed.

Son of Opie

Then why is teen pregnancy on the rise since abstinence-only education has come back into vogue?

afruff23

I don't know. But one thing you must keep in mind is that you must keep variables constant to make an empirical test valid. In an environment as dynamic as a whole country, you cannot make many (or possibly any) conclusions from the data.

Shortened: correlation!=causation

Just because you give the sole explanation for an occurrence, does not make that explanation correct. If I propose that the Earth has magnetic poles because there is a huge bar magnet at the center of the Earth, that does not mean I am correct. On the other hand, the rigid empiricist who claims ignorance about why the Earth has magnetic poles would be correct in saying "I don't know".

Personally, I don't care what the curricula teaches so long as people have a choice just as a drunk has a choice to stupefy himself with liquor.

helloworld!

Let's not overestimate how informed young people are. If my parents tell me that I should not have sex until marriage and condoms don't work, then I might stay abstinent until marriage or I might have sex without condoms, because hey, condoms don't work! Comprehensive sex-ed helps counter these myths and provides teens with medically accurate information with which to make their own decisions.

Also, sex ed is not only about birth control and STIs. There's a huge culture and values component. Its about healthy relationships, communication, gender roles, sexual orientation and generally acknowledging sexuality as a normal part of human existence. In contrast, abstinence-only programming (not education in any way), is about denying the validity of any sexual relationship that is not between two married people, reaffirming sexist and homophobic beliefs, and causing people to feel shame about their sexual practices.