I was just reading in the online version of the local Phoenix paper, that our new state Governor, Jan Brewer, not to be confused with Janet Napolatano, whom we donated to Barack Obama's team, leaving her Democratic governor chair open to the Republican Secretary of State. Arizona is short-sighted enough not to have a leiutenant governor position, so that when a governor leaves before the next election, (We have had some doozies in the past 20 years!) the job is passed on to the Secretary of State, no matter what, if any, that person's party affiliation that might be. So, passing Janet off to Obama gave us Jan Brewer, a Republican, which gives us a Republican legislature and a Republican governor. It's deja vu... on the state of Arizona level.
Jan has just accepted 1 million dollars in "Abstinence Only" sex education for the public high schools. Sigh! We are so broke in our education system right now that they are cutting programs, lunches, bus routes, insurance, teachers and maybe even air conditioning to the buildings. So, why do we have to preach abstinence only in our schools?
Abstinence does not prevent babies. Reference: Large Catholic families trying to use the Rhythm method. It's not that I'm against abstinence, I'm not! I think teens are too young and vulnerable for a sexual relationship and the accountability for preventing an unwanted pregnancy is practically non-existent. I remember back in the dark ages, (my high school years) when the girls gossiped about so and so who was taking birth control pills. The whore! She expected to DO IT! Good girls did not expect to do it. They only got swept away in a tidal wave of young love and a steady boyfriend they wanted to keep from straying to the whore who WANTED to do it!
Have things changed much? In that department, I truly doubt it! Did my parents preach abstinence in the home? You damn betcha they did! Did I listen? Partly, but what really got my attention was my last year of school when I was enrolled in an on the job program at the local hospital to be a nursing assistent. We trained in the hospital and classroom, we rotated to all the units including maternity and we hoped to get to witness a live birth while on our rotation there. I was one of the lucky ones!
I won't go into the details, but it was a difficult birth. Everyone survived, including the high school trainee, who had never seen "forceps" before, let alone knew where they went, and the speed and force used to place them! I recovered nicely in about a week.
Granted, the teens today know far more than I did at a much younger age. Nonetheless, parents and education leave gaps in the teaching. Many of these gaps are filled by television and movies, not always of the parents' choosing. The rest are filled by word of mouth from their friends and older siblings. Most of the time, the advice of friends will be followed before the advice of parents or educators.
How far will Abstinence Only get our young people? It won't get us a million dollars worth of far! This system has only proven to statistically fail to stop the incidence of teenage pregnancy. There is no benefit, no impact. Why? Because the program only succeeds in making a young person feel like they have failed when they find themselves pregnant. This is a failure they will hide from the adults in their lives, as long as they can, because they feel like they have failed the people who love them.
Even kids that are taught sex education at home, are under agonizing stress telling their parents the worst news after the fact.
Our children deserve better education in the schools. They need parents backing up what the school teaches and opening up channels with their teens that will pave the way for a responsible transition into becoming young, responsible adults. Parents and educators need to be realistic in what they teach, yet temper that realism with knowledge about responsibility and respect for their growning, changing bodies.
For my money, Abstinence Only, is a short sighted program and its only merit is when it is compared to nothing at all!
Jan has just accepted 1 million dollars in "Abstinence Only" sex education for the public high schools. Sigh! We are so broke in our education system right now that they are cutting programs, lunches, bus routes, insurance, teachers and maybe even air conditioning to the buildings. So, why do we have to preach abstinence only in our schools?
Abstinence does not prevent babies. Reference: Large Catholic families trying to use the Rhythm method. It's not that I'm against abstinence, I'm not! I think teens are too young and vulnerable for a sexual relationship and the accountability for preventing an unwanted pregnancy is practically non-existent. I remember back in the dark ages, (my high school years) when the girls gossiped about so and so who was taking birth control pills. The whore! She expected to DO IT! Good girls did not expect to do it. They only got swept away in a tidal wave of young love and a steady boyfriend they wanted to keep from straying to the whore who WANTED to do it!
Have things changed much? In that department, I truly doubt it! Did my parents preach abstinence in the home? You damn betcha they did! Did I listen? Partly, but what really got my attention was my last year of school when I was enrolled in an on the job program at the local hospital to be a nursing assistent. We trained in the hospital and classroom, we rotated to all the units including maternity and we hoped to get to witness a live birth while on our rotation there. I was one of the lucky ones!
I won't go into the details, but it was a difficult birth. Everyone survived, including the high school trainee, who had never seen "forceps" before, let alone knew where they went, and the speed and force used to place them! I recovered nicely in about a week.
Granted, the teens today know far more than I did at a much younger age. Nonetheless, parents and education leave gaps in the teaching. Many of these gaps are filled by television and movies, not always of the parents' choosing. The rest are filled by word of mouth from their friends and older siblings. Most of the time, the advice of friends will be followed before the advice of parents or educators.
How far will Abstinence Only get our young people? It won't get us a million dollars worth of far! This system has only proven to statistically fail to stop the incidence of teenage pregnancy. There is no benefit, no impact. Why? Because the program only succeeds in making a young person feel like they have failed when they find themselves pregnant. This is a failure they will hide from the adults in their lives, as long as they can, because they feel like they have failed the people who love them.
Even kids that are taught sex education at home, are under agonizing stress telling their parents the worst news after the fact.
Our children deserve better education in the schools. They need parents backing up what the school teaches and opening up channels with their teens that will pave the way for a responsible transition into becoming young, responsible adults. Parents and educators need to be realistic in what they teach, yet temper that realism with knowledge about responsibility and respect for their growning, changing bodies.
For my money, Abstinence Only, is a short sighted program and its only merit is when it is compared to nothing at all!
posted by suzie at 12:19 PM
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