Abstinence Only? No Way!
While walking down the steps at my high school, I began to wonder what exactly we were going to see at the assembly. After the entire school was seated in the gym, only then did we all realize that we were there for sex education. The presentation began, equipped with skits, facts, questions from the audience, and finally, we were taught how to put a condom on. That was when all hell broke loose. Administrators were furious. My private, Catholic, college prep high school did not believe in teaching safe sex, only in teaching no sex until marriage. At the end of the presentation, the group began to pass out condoms, only to be told that their condoms were not good here, and if Marin Catholic High School students needed condoms, they could buy them on their own time. Going to a Catholic high school had its bright sides, but it also had dark sides. Obviously the school was aware that statistically, about half of its students were sexually active, or had engaged in some type of sex, and yet, because Catholicism did not believe in sex before marriage, they refused to teach students about safe sex. Now, not only are Catholic schools staying firm on teaching abstinence only, but public schools around the nation are now adopting
But some abstinent only programs do have their upsides. Teaching kids abstinence only gives them a chance to learn how to say no. Wendy Lowe, director at Calgary Pregnancy Care Center, says that she has agrees with the teaching kids abstinence. "No amount of education can change the inconstancy of teen behavior. If you give kids condoms, condom use goes up, the number of sexually active kids goes up more, and sexual activity goes up more" (Woodward). She believes that teaching abstinence will lower rate of teenager engaging in sex. Lowe has concluded that, "Most kids greet the abstinent message with great relief. If you say sex in the 1990's is a life-and-death issue, they know it is true, and they are prepared to wait. They just want to learn to say no" (Woodward). So then what about those Catholic schools that have always had abstinent only programs? "Many of our students have already had children or conceive children while at our school," says Jennifer Luksich, a teacher at Seton Academy, a Catholic all girls high school in Chicago (Abowd). "According to the church, the only thing we're allowed to talk about is abstinence; not a single word about condoms. It is obviously is not working" (Abowd). Focus on the Family, an abstinence only program, preaches that teaching abstinence only is a better alternative to the raunchy, suit yourself sex education programs currently used in most public schools (Woodward). Programs like Focus on the Family believe that all sex education should not be the jobs of just schools. They think that the family plays a huge roll in whether or not kids stay abstinent until marriage. LeAnn Benn, director of a program called Teen-Aid in Washington, uses a milder approach to discussing abstinence with kids, and also involves the family as playing a major roll in teenage values (Abowd). "We tell kids they are better off to save sexual activity until marriage. Our approach is education and to have parents discuss values because values drive behavior. Adults can change what is happening with kids, if they have the courage to do so. They just need to set a higher standard" (Abowd). Involving the family is a good plan, but what about those teens that have absent parents, or who are already parents themselves? Miller has the right idea about sex education and what it should pertain. Sex education should have no boundaries. Along with this attitude that she has, Miller also believes that incorporating parents and key elements like building self-esteem and communication skills and talking about the place of sex in a loving, caring relationship (Abowd). "Sex is not just what you do with the genitals," Miller says. "It's what you do as a person. It involves all of you" (Abowd). Studies show that programs focusing solely on abstinence are not enough to change teen behavior substantially (Abowd). Miller believes that teens respond better to her way of teaching sexual education, to include all the information that she can, and to make sure teens understand all aspects of sex and sexuality. Changing sexual education programs to abstinence only programs defeats the purpose of sex education. Both parents and school administrators are denying the importance of teaching students about every aspect of sex education. Safe sex should be promoted in schools, not just abstinence only before marriage. Supporters of abstinence only programs "promise school boards and parents that if schools let them come in and teach an abstinence only curriculum, children will not have sex" (Donovan). This message is very appealing to adults, who feel that adolescents today become sexually active too early. Parents and adults of the US today are blind to how teaching abstinence only will affect the rate of teens engaging in sex, the pregnancy rate, the STD rate, and the HIV/AIDS rate. With abstinent only programs taught in schools, all of these rates will increase, due to the lack of education that kid
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Approximate Word count = 3274
Approximate Pages = 13 (250 words per page double spaced)
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