From Pine View Farm

The Cost of Perpetuating Ignorance 2

Steve sums up the successes of “abstinence only” sex education:

It took a while, but the statistics are finally showing that abstinence only education is a success! It is doing exactly what it is designed to do, leave boys and girls with too little information to control their own lives. Now the kicker is that teen preganacies are on the rise for the first time in well over a generation.

Later on, he has this quotation from the news story that prompted his post.

“Believe it or not, kids today get less information in schools about birth control than their parents did,” Columbia University professor Leslie M. Kantor said.

If they are getting less information than I did, they are truly in deep yoghurt. Or Jello. Or something.

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2 comments

  1. Pamposh Dhar

    March 3, 2009 at 5:15 am

    One can see the results of this policy everywhere in the Philippines – at the macro level in the high population growth rate, and at the human level in unprepared mothers, irresponsible fathers, neglected children, unnecessary illness and death (kids and mothers).
    My household helper just lost her sister at the age of 34 giving birth to her fifth child. The child also died. One of the other 4 children died last year when he got swept out to sea when no-one was watching him. He was two.

     
  2. Frank

    March 4, 2009 at 8:40 am

    I know it can be difficult for parents to talk with kids about the nitty-gritty of sex, at least in this country.  That’s why it got pushed off on the schools.  (Americans have a tendency to overload their schools with all sorts of responsibilities that have nothing whatsoever to do with book learning.)

     

    My ex was a school nurse in a high school for a while (and a damned good nurse).  She used to come home with hilarious tales about–er–demonstrating prophylactic techniques with the assistance of a banana.  But, even with the nursing training and the sense of humor, she still found it one of her least favorite duties.

     

    Despite the saying, I do not believe that ignorance ever leads to bliss.