2008 Woodie Awards
County must teach teens abstinence
Issue date: 3/4/08 Section: Opinions
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The board believes moving toward a system of more comprehensive sexual education will lower the teen pregnancy rate. It is trying to solve a problem by applying a band-aid, but the real issue is with parents and the community.
The board is flawed both with its reasoning and its solution. The most important issue is these programs are ineffective.
The nine most common comprehensive sex education programs are failing, according to a report issued in May 2007 by the Department of Health and Human Services. It did not significantly delay the age at which children became sexually active.
The report also found the effects of comprehensive education disappeared with time. For all the emphasis these comprehensive programs place on the use of condoms, they only showed small positive impacts.
Some argue abstinence education is old-fashioned and out-of-date. But with the rising rates of HIV and other STDs, we need to encourage our children to wait until marriage. With the rising teen pregnancy rates and the destruction of the family structure, we need to encourage our youth to wait until marriage and make a commitment for the rest of their lives.
America is a society based on the family, but with out-of-wedlock births constituting 40 percent of births, the family unit is falling apart. If we teach kids to abstain from sex until marriage but then present the opposing message of being sure to use condoms and birth control, we are confusing them even further.
Our sexual education needs to encourage personal responsibility along with abstinence. If you choose to make poor choices, you need to be ready for the ramifications of those actions.
We must teach our children that the government will not take care of you for the rest of your life - you need to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and take what life throws at you. Abortion is not a solution, but a morally reprehensible action.
Mayor Heidi Davison, the Athens-Clarke County Commission, and the Clarke County Board of Education can do more to teach and increase personal responsibility. Only about 59 percent of students graduate from high school.
If our children do not graduate from high school, we are setting them up for a difficult life. We need to create incentives for them to graduate and ensure parents are involved in their children's lives.
Parents need to be able to tell their children they have made mistakes in the past, but they do not need to follow in their footsteps.
We are hurting our children by moving to comprehensive sexual education. The benefits are intangible and will hurt our American way of life. Stop trying to solve a crisis with the wrong solution. Do it for the children.
- Greg Wilson is a freshman from Marietta majoring in political science.
Viewing Comments 1 - 10 of 44
About that...
posted 3/04/08 @ 6:31 AM EST
"Some argue abstinence education is old-fashioned and out-of-date. But with the rising rates of HIV and other STDs, we need to encourage our children to wait until marriage. (Continued…)
Suzie Rottencrotch
posted 3/04/08 @ 7:03 AM EST
Dude, the only reason you are supporting abstinence is because you've never gotten laid. Be an American and get some.
buzzkill
posted 3/04/08 @ 7:14 AM EST
keeping the blinders on when it comes to teen sex is no way to go about formulating a sex education plan. regardless of your own values and beliefs, there are others, parents and teenagers, whose beliefs don't preclude extramarital intercourse. (Continued…)
Josh
posted 3/04/08 @ 9:03 AM EST
freshman shouldn't be allowed to talk.
Steven
posted 3/04/08 @ 9:18 AM EST
Greg,
There's no way you actually believe this. I say this because I believe you could pissibly have a bit of logic hidden under your neocon facade. Your argument doesn't stand up to even the slightest bit of scrutiny. (Continued…)
Daniel
posted 3/04/08 @ 9:36 AM EST
"Evaluation of these [abstinence-only] programs showed few short-term benefits and no lasting, positive impact. A few programs showed mild success at improving attitudes and intentions to abstain. (Continued…)
local
posted 3/04/08 @ 9:53 AM EST
A-You're from Marietta and you've been here for a semester so please don't assume you have a full, clear understanding of the issues affecting the permanent residents of Clarke County. (Continued…)
better to know
posted 3/04/08 @ 10:06 AM EST
Greg, I won't resort to personal attacks to let you know how completely wrong you are. You know what abstinence only education leads to? In the case of the Baptist school in town, it led to pregnancies and secret abortions in Atlanta. (Continued…)
Emily
posted 3/04/08 @ 11:19 AM EST
While comprehensive sex education programs have not been shown to delay the age in which teens first have sex, it does increased the rate of protected sex they practice. (Continued…)
Desiree White
posted 3/04/08 @ 11:41 AM EST
You're little early, it's not April Fool's Day yet. I don't see how this could possibly be anything other than a joke.
First of all the problem is primarily in society, because our culture as a whole is extremely sexually driven. (Continued…)
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