I just came across this article, and I found it illuminating in regards to the current teen pregnancy debacle. Teen pregnancies are up 3% (this percentage doesn't sound like much, but considering that the teen birth rate had been dropping for the past 14 years, it is an alarming trend), perhaps largely because abstinence only sex education (which has been proven, in many cases, not to work) is the only sex ed taught in many of our schools today.
It's quite interesting; check it out!
Tuesday, January 15, 2008
Interesting Article on Teen Pregnancy
Posted by Amanda at 12:39 PM
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2 comments:
I'm mixed on how I view the effects of abstinence education on the pregnancy rate.
I've got no beef with arguments that it doesn't work. Getting teenagers not to have at it is like trying to demand it not rain in your yard. I'm consistantly offended that any of my tax dollars go towards abstinence-only education.
But does anyone REALLY get their primary sex education from school anymore? Not everyone has a great family structure to impart the birds-and-bees talk, but I pretty clearly remember already having pretty much all of the relevant info (minus the practical knowledge) by the time the health unit rolled around in 8th grade.
I do think the article's gist is interesting... seeing how the pop culture pendulum has swung around in terms of women in movies keeping kids. Makes for cuter entertainment, but something like "Citizen Ruth" makes for much more scintillating pro-life/pro-choice discussion than "Knocked Up". But then, compare the box office grosses on them. :P
John,
You're right; so many children DON'T receive their primary sex ed from school anymore; it comes from parents, friends, TV, etc. I agree with you 100% on that aspect!
What worries me is that kids ARE getting incorrect info long before they hit middle school (hopefully not from their parents, but from friends and TV) that it worries me that many schools aren't trying to combat this incorrect info with straight-forward talk on contraception, as well as the emotional and physical impact that sex can have on a relationship. I think the statistics show how well that's working out :P
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