CenTex GuyTexas sex education failing?
July 17th 2008 04:21
So Texas makes the news again for all the wrong reasons, sort of. A recent study has showed that the Texas Sex Education program is not reaching today’s teenagers.
Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms.
All that while Texas spends a nation-high $17 million on sex education.
Since Texas sex education focuses only on abstinence, the study has given liberals and advocacy groups leverage to say that sex education programs are not working when only teaching abstinence. And more people are suggesting that Texas is wasting money on sex education all together.
The entire thing is interesting.
Here’s the problems I have though, especially with the premise that money is being wasted.
Advocacy groups always claim abstinence teaching doesn’t work, and they’d rather go completely with a safe sex program (IE contraceptives, condoms, etc…) Yet, even they concede that abstinence is the only true way to prevent STDs or pregnancy. But they say kids are going to have sex anyway, so why not teach them to do it safely? The other side argues that’s basically the same, as saying teenagers will drink, so why not allow them to legally, etc. type arguments. Of course, the flaw being that sex isn’t illegal for teenagers anyway.
But the real flaw is to suggest the programs aren’t working. The Texas law doesn’t mandate that sex education be taught…it mandates that if it is, it has to be done with an abstinence theme. So not every school teaches it. Even so, the sex education law was written in 1995 (by a democrat no less…pointed out because they are the main ones crying the program is failing) and since it was written teen sex rates and pregnancy rates have dropped every single year until now. In fact as a nation, teen birth rates decreased 35 percent from 1991 to 2005 (It should be noted that 1990 was when the nation started pushing stronger sex education) and Texas led the way in that drop, with a drop in pregnancy rates almost to 40 percent, although the state still has the highest rate in the nation.
Additionally, the Texas system is taught by a third party. In other words, companies bid with school districts to come in and teach about sex education. My problem with that is that many times the students don’t know these people. They know their teachers and community leaders; they trust the leaders and teachers. It’d be like if a random stranger told me not to eat at Catfish Charlie’s. How do I know to trust this guy? If my friend tells me not to then I likely will listen. (By the way, this is an example as Catfish Charlie’s is excellent). No matter how convincing the arguments they make, I’m more likely to still take the advice of someone I trust.
Still, students have stories all the time about how they were planning to have sex until they hear a message in the school. At the same time, others tell stories that the sex talk actually got them thinking more about sex. It may not have been planted in their heads until they heard the story. (In the same way your mom may tell you not to touch a hot stove when you are young…well then you want to touch a hot stove)
I’m sure that ignoring the issue all together isn’t the answer, but I do think Texas still needs to do a better job of sex ed., and that may include a broad-based education plane that includes abstinence and proper protection. I’d make a stronger push for abstinence though, as I know too many teenage moms who struggled to raise a child, even more who have a hard time living with themselves years after they aborted that child, and a few who wonder if the child they gave up for adoption is enjoying a good life.
Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms.
All that while Texas spends a nation-high $17 million on sex education.
Since Texas sex education focuses only on abstinence, the study has given liberals and advocacy groups leverage to say that sex education programs are not working when only teaching abstinence. And more people are suggesting that Texas is wasting money on sex education all together.
The entire thing is interesting.
Here’s the problems I have though, especially with the premise that money is being wasted.
Advocacy groups always claim abstinence teaching doesn’t work, and they’d rather go completely with a safe sex program (IE contraceptives, condoms, etc…) Yet, even they concede that abstinence is the only true way to prevent STDs or pregnancy. But they say kids are going to have sex anyway, so why not teach them to do it safely? The other side argues that’s basically the same, as saying teenagers will drink, so why not allow them to legally, etc. type arguments. Of course, the flaw being that sex isn’t illegal for teenagers anyway.
But the real flaw is to suggest the programs aren’t working. The Texas law doesn’t mandate that sex education be taught…it mandates that if it is, it has to be done with an abstinence theme. So not every school teaches it. Even so, the sex education law was written in 1995 (by a democrat no less…pointed out because they are the main ones crying the program is failing) and since it was written teen sex rates and pregnancy rates have dropped every single year until now. In fact as a nation, teen birth rates decreased 35 percent from 1991 to 2005 (It should be noted that 1990 was when the nation started pushing stronger sex education) and Texas led the way in that drop, with a drop in pregnancy rates almost to 40 percent, although the state still has the highest rate in the nation.
Additionally, the Texas system is taught by a third party. In other words, companies bid with school districts to come in and teach about sex education. My problem with that is that many times the students don’t know these people. They know their teachers and community leaders; they trust the leaders and teachers. It’d be like if a random stranger told me not to eat at Catfish Charlie’s. How do I know to trust this guy? If my friend tells me not to then I likely will listen. (By the way, this is an example as Catfish Charlie’s is excellent). No matter how convincing the arguments they make, I’m more likely to still take the advice of someone I trust.
Still, students have stories all the time about how they were planning to have sex until they hear a message in the school. At the same time, others tell stories that the sex talk actually got them thinking more about sex. It may not have been planted in their heads until they heard the story. (In the same way your mom may tell you not to touch a hot stove when you are young…well then you want to touch a hot stove)
I’m sure that ignoring the issue all together isn’t the answer, but I do think Texas still needs to do a better job of sex ed., and that may include a broad-based education plane that includes abstinence and proper protection. I’d make a stronger push for abstinence though, as I know too many teenage moms who struggled to raise a child, even more who have a hard time living with themselves years after they aborted that child, and a few who wonder if the child they gave up for adoption is enjoying a good life.
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