The fact is — backward-looking school districts and hillbilly states where sex education isn’t being taught in public schools always have the highest teen pregnancy rates.
There’s a fiery debate happening about sex education being taught in public schools.
Believe it or not, this discussion is taking place here in Las Vegas — you know, the modern reincarnate of Sodom and Gomorrah, the place where hookers troll the streets at night, where working in a strip club is considered mainstream, and where billboards openly and legally advertise “Live Girls to Your Room” 24-hours a day. If there’s resistance to sex education being taught to Las Vegas schoolchildren, what might the situation be like in the far more reactionary Bible Belt?
Answer: Dire.
The fact is — backward-looking school districts and hillbilly states where sex education isn’t being taught in public schools always have the highest teen pregnancy rates. And sexually-transmitted diseases, too. Keeping our kids ignorant while ignoring one of the fundamental components of human biology isn’t just a bad public policy. It’s a crime against our children and an infringement upon collective society — and with devastating consequences. [SEE FOOTNOTE 1}
We need some finger-pointing and those who deserve to be called out and ostracized most severely are social conservatives and religious organizations, which almost always fodder the barricades against human progress and enlightenment. What’s their alternative plan? Abstinence. As in “just say no.”
Seriously.
Rather than face the fact that all kids are going to be curious about natural instincts and the vast majority will engage in some kind of sexual activity at some point “before marriage,” we remain shackled to a Victorian-era mindset about sex and morality. If such ignorance was producing the desired effect — that is, reduced teen pregnancies and lower rates of sexually-transmitted diseases — then we’d have to acknowledge their approach produces positive results.
But it doesn’t. Abstinence-only education is an outmoded and ineffectual approach that would be downright laughable were not the consequences of this mass swindle based on ignorance and fear not so tragic for thousands of kids who end up facing unwanted pregnancies each year.
Fortunately, some open-minded community leaders here in Las Vegas have begun to do something about this problem, unmasking the fraud of teaching abstinence-only. Instead, the science of sex education, methods of birth control, and promoting emotional well-being are now being proposed. One would think this wouldn’t raise many objections, nor be controversial. Yet, it is.
Consider the repulsive comments made by some of the local parents at a public hearing yesterday. One parent said, “I will not stand by and have this taught to my children. I will fight to the death.’ The Las Vegas Review-Journal newspaper reported she had tears running down her cheeks as she spoke. Oh, how her children must be so proud. Another parent said, “You tell this to my 9-year-old daughter — this is disgusting and makes me sick.” [SEE FOOTNOTE 2]
One of the most interesting aspects of the controversy is the American Civil Liberty Union (ACLU) taking a position that sex education must include something in the curriculum about alternative lifestyles. This essentially means including some discussion of homosexuality. Oh, the horror! While this certainly inhibits gaining wider public support for a broader sex education program, it’s the right thing to do and properly respects and protects the rights of all people. Discriminating against those who engage in non-traditional partnerships should not be permitted in any public, taxpayer-supported institution. At least, that should be the law.
This, of course, riles up conservatives in a big way. Addressing some aspects of homosexuality, even acknowledging it exists, they fear, will “turn the kids gay.” After all, we know heterosexuality and homosexuality are choices, right? We all make up our minds as to our sexual orientation. Biology has nothing to do with it. Please observe the wicked sarcasm.
What makes the ACLU’s position compelling (I’d argue irrefutable) is that abstinence-only education taught in public schools is contradictory to existing state law. Children are advised to “wait until marriage” to have sex. That might be fine for heterosexuals. But what about homosexuals? Since state law prohibits marriage between same-sex couples, is that population estimated at ten percent required to abstain from sexual relations for the rest of the lives? One sees the blatant hypocrisy, not to mention the gross injustices of current public policy and state law on this issue.
Yet again, this is a cultural war pitting conservatives against progressives. Fortunately, we have all the advantages on our side The outdated policies of yesteryear are failing. In fact, they never worked. Meanwhile, progressives take a braver, far more pragmatic approach to problems. We face facts and seek new solutions, not encumbered by chattel moral codes written at the time when slavery was legal and women were treated as second-class citizens in this country. In our society, sex remains the final frontier, the last unfulfilled chapter of abolition.
Indeed, we all know kids engage in sex, the vast majority before marriage. Accordingly, we can do either of two things — stick with what’s failed miserably, or increase levels of education.
Isn’t the answer obvious?
FOOTNOTE 1 — LINK HERE “For example, take the states with the highest and lowest teen pregnancy rates. Mississippi does not require sex education in schools, but when it is taught, abstinence-only education is the state standard. New Mexico, which has the second-highest teen birth rate, does not require sex ed and has no requirements on what should be included when it is taught. New Hampshire, on the other hand, requires comprehensive sex education in schools that includes abstinence and information about condoms and contraception.”
FOOTNOTE 2 — Read the full story in the Las Vegas Review-Journal HERE.