Abstinence message goes beyond teens
By Sharon Jayson, USA TODAY
The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.
Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.
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So, essentially, to prevent 20 to 29 year olds from having children, we are going to spend money on NOT telling them how to prevent having children. What a brilliant plan!
"The message is 'It's better to wait until you're married to bear or father children,' " Horn said. "The only 100% effective way of getting there is abstinence."
Yes, and the only 100% effective way of preventing car accidents is to not drive. Life is about calculated risks. My calculated risks include various sorts of birth control. Thus far, I've had better luck with preventing pregnancy than preventing car accidents.
For last year's state grants, Congress appropriated $50 million. A similar amount is expected for 2007, but the money has not yet been allocated, according to the Administration for Children and Families. - Abstinence message goes beyond teens
(sighs)
This just raises the idoicy of abstitence only sex-education by a few more points.
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On a more positive note:
New Jersey announced last week that it will not accept $800,000 in federal funds to teach abstinence-only sex education. Sex education programs in states that receive the federal funds are not allowed to teach students about contraception, must describe sex before marriage as “potentially mentally and physically damaging,” and must teach that “sex within marriage is ‘the expected standard of sexual activity’,” the Associated Press and Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy report. According to the Associated Press, New Jersey officials wrote in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt that the requirements tied to the federal money violate the state’s sex education and AIDS education programs.
- NJ Says No to Abstinence-Only Sex Ed
8 comments:
They keep the kids ignorant and then they experiment without knowing the consequences of their actions. Sad way to go about things. I know a couple of people who could benefit from the knowledge of condoms and contraceptives, especially because they had children coming out of high school.
I suppose the reasoning is: teaching kids abstinence-only doesn't work, but we reeeally want to teach somebody abstinence, so let's throw the adults in too! It's a revolutionary new model of education--when your lesson plan doesn't reach the student, get different students instead of different lesson plans.
Just you wait a few years...once they've got the target age up high enough (I figure around 75 or so), they can finally say their audience got the message!
anton wrote: It's a revolutionary new model of education--when your lesson plan doesn't reach the student, get different students instead of different lesson plans.
Perhaps I should employ this logic at work; whenever my seniors don't understand a particular calculus concept, I shall direct my attention to teaching elementary school students the same calculus concept. (nods) I'll have to try this. It sounds about as effective as trying to convince 20 to 29 year olds to not have sex.
Though, I suppose, to make the situation more analogous, I'd have to chose something more difficult to understand, without much point, and with potentially dangerous consequences: theology, for example. If I had to count the number of religious-private-school students who come in complaining because they can't understand their theology/bible class... well... I'd run out of fingers. Poor students. I never really know what to say to them.
meso wrote: They keep the kids ignorant and then they experiment without knowing the consequences of their actions. Sad way to go about things. I know a couple of people who could benefit from the knowledge of condoms and contraceptives, especially because they had children coming out of high school.
Indeed. Less knowledge, in this case in particular, is NOT a good idea.
Perhaps I should employ this logic at work; whenever my seniors don't understand a particular calculus concept, I shall direct my attention to teaching elementary school students the same calculus concept.
Honestly, the world would probably be a much better place if we taught kids real analysis in elementary school. They're quite capable of grasping it then, at least on the theorem-proving side. Instead, they spend the next ten years thinking mathematics consists entirely of kicking numbers around until they form other numbers. Where do you teach?
If I had to count the number of religious-private-school students who come in complaining because they can't understand their theology/bible class... well... I'd run out of fingers.
Man, I wish my students would come in complaining that one of their non-math classes was harder to understand than mine.
Hmm...my verification word this time was "Shaatam." If I say that aloud, will I be struck by a bolt of lightning and turn into an Islamic demon in a cape and red spandex?
Honestly, the world would probably be a much better place if we taught kids real analysis in elementary school.
Agreed. However, that would require hiring teachers who understand analysis. I may be jaded, but it seems hard enough to find teachers who want to work at that level who understand math beyond the simple memorization of basic operations.
Where do you teach?
I own, manage, and work at a small tutoring center. I tutor bits and pieces of everything, but work mainly with high school students.
Hmm...my verification word this time was "Shaatam." If I say that aloud, will I be struck by a bolt of lightning and turn into an Islamic demon in a cape and red spandex.
I'm not sure. Perhaps you could try and report back... that would be the scientific way to go about it.
The wisdom of Suleyman! The strength of the Hadith! The stamina of A...uh...I give up.
Does your tutoring center work with college freshmen, or could it, at least? And do you guys do one-on-one sessions? The official list of OSU private math tutors is pretty thin right now.
The wisdom of Suleyman! The strength of the Hadith! The stamina of A...uh...I give up.
Well, it was a good try at least.
Does your tutoring center work with college freshmen, or could it, at least? And do you guys do one-on-one sessions? The official list of OSU private math tutors is pretty thin right now.
Sometimes, yes, and yes. However, we are about 40 minutes east of OSU (in Granville), so the students would need to be pretty dedicated to the idea of tutoring with us to make the journey. We sometimes work with OSU-N students but we've never had one drive in from main campus.
I see. Thanks for the info!
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