What should public schools teach our children about sex? It can be a complex question, especially when dealing with morals, social norms, pop culture, hormones and health. When students sit down for their sex education, should teachers embrace an abstinence-only policy?
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Sure it would be nice if children followed everything you taught them and if they did we wouldn't need to teach them about protecting themselves. Here's the catch, they don't listen. However much we would like our children to wait until marriage most of them don't and when they don't know how to properly protect themselves they end up getting pregnant.
Lets now weigh the cost to society of a baby born to an unwed mother versus the cost of education and subsidized birth control. We teach them sex is bad and they do it anyway THEN they're so ashamed they cover it up and are less likely to get proper maternity care increasing their risk of premature birth. I don't know the numbers but I'd rather pay for birth control than a couple of weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit for a teenage mother's unintended pregnancy.
- EAnthes
December 9, 2008 3:17PM
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Abstinence Saves Taxpayers Money
- From Lifeway
By LifeWay Christian Resources - Biblical solutions for life
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Um... I don't think you understand your own argument....
"...researchers estimate that adolescent childbearing itself costs the taxpayers $6.9 billion each year."
Yeah... teenagers always have, and always will have sex. That's what teens do. You can teach them whatever you want, but when it comes right down to it, they will choose for themselves whether or not to remain abstinent. You are saying that teen pregnancies are costing a lot of money. Well, don't you think that if they'd had some sex ed teaching them about proper use of condoms, etc. that they could have avoided getting pregnant? Saying "don't do it" isn't going to stop teens. Besides, you are a religious group. You can't try and force your beliefs on teens. It is up to their parents to teach them that stuff. Not public schools. Public schools are for education not religion.
- mmsomekid July 24, 2008 6:35PM
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Make it uncool and kids will stop doing it.
I agree that young mothers have a much tougher go at things. Ignorance of sex, though, does not reduce teenage pregnancy. That's why we should educate them instead of letting them experiment and get pregnant! Ignorance of sex just breeds curiosity, and kids will find ways to experience what everyone has been keeping from them. When you make things taboo, you make things 'cool' and interesting. If you make red shoes illegal, I guarantee you that 14 year olds everywhere will covet them and find a way to get them.
Education takes the mystery out of it. Having a dialogue about it is what kids, and parents, need.
Don't make sex a red shoe; make it boring, overdone, and uncool. Ask any kid: education is boring. It's a perfect formula and that's how you'll end teenage pregnancy.
- thedr9wningman
August 21, 2008 9:04AM
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ew yuck
If you want to make it really uncool, simply remind the kids that their parents do it all the time.
- Adam Hammond
September 3, 2008 7:43PM
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Side: No
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A Total Impossibility, Thanks to Hormones
Sorry, you really can't make sex uncool...it's like trying to suggest to people that chocolate doesn't taste good. Sex is fun, and always will be, because we are programmed to like and want sex. You can't fight mother nature!
- pwk October 30, 2008 9:58AM
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Sure
Teen abstinence is a very good idea. You are missing the point. The abstinence programs that you are advocating would only save taxpayers money if they actually lowered teen pregnancy.
- Adam Hammond
September 3, 2008 7:40PM
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Abstinence Teaching By Itself Does Not Save Money
If I’m following your argument correctly, then I strongly disagree. I do not believe that it is the pre-marital sex which is causing the severe economic and social costs and also the personal pain, but it is the result of the sex, the babies, which has placed the burden upon society. There is nothing wrong with teaching abstinence. Actually, I do feel that if we lived in a perfect society, abstinence would be my preference for my teenager. Yes, it would be extremely desirable if all teenagers did practice abstinence. Unfortunately, we live in a very imperfect society. Teenagers MUST be given more tools to deal with pre-marital sex. Lately, pre-marital sex and pregnant teen-age girls seems to have become ‘real cool’. In the heat of the moment, teen-age girls and boys must have more tools at their disposal other than just abstinence. Obviously from the news these past few days, regarding the teen-age daughter of the Vice Presidential Candidate who is now expecting, the Abstinence Only Position doesn’t seem to have worked. If it hasn’t worked for the daughter of a Governor and now a Vice Presidential Candidate, how is it going to work for teen-agers living in impoverished areas and who also may not have a strong emotional support system at home. I say Abstinence Yes, but Abstinence and More.
- mellis
September 11, 2008 3:34PM
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