A new Harvard study found that more than half of adolescents who make pledges to abstain from sex until marriage break their vow within a year. Some conservative groups contest the findings, arguing that the study was based on 10-year-old data and that more recent studies seem to indicate that virginity pledges do work. But regardless of whether one-half, one-third or one-fourth of teens break their pledge within a year, a lot of teens are having sex. As a result — and contrary to a proposal before the State Board of Education — it makes sense to have sex education classes emphasize abstinence but also teach students about contraception.
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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31 Comments
When I first heard of these “True love waits” type pleadges. I said that when you are alone in the back seat of a car with someone you THINK you love, that maybe hard to remember that you stood with several others in a well lite room and made the pledge. But it is one tool in the war against teen sex. I am a firm believer in a well rounded sex education class.
Maybe all PARENTS should be required to take sex-ed child-teaching classes.
This is a ‘news’ story? Teenagers are having sex? Here is another headline, the sun rose in the east this morning!
well shoot – lets just scrap it then.
while we’re at it, lets get rid of all laws restricting youngsters from drinkig.
why stop there? lets legalize drugs. I took a straw poll up here in lawrence – oops, kids are still using drugs – lets give up.
good solution.joke.
Just goes to show that Mother Nature won’t be denied….just wish I could regain that all consuming passion again..getting old sucks!
Da,Right on!
It’s always seemed to me that most mistakes come from having too little information rather than too much. The christian approach to education seems more about what not to tell kids than in providing a useful base of information for their lives. It’s a recipe for disaster!
Laws are meant to reflect the sensibilities of the majority of people in their time and place. It’s ludicrous to have laws on the books that, let’s say, 85 to 90% of people break on a regular basis. Laws should also serve the public good. That’s why we don’t draw and quarter people and hang their heads on the “Welcome to Kansas!” signs on the interstates.
Oaths are kinda the same way. Laws and oaths are only as good as the word of the people behind them. If a kid is put in a social situation where many of his/her peers are doing something and pushing them to do it too, then the oath is worthless, be it an abstinence oath, a sobriety oath, whatever. The oath isn’t in the recitation of the words, it’s in the heart of the individual.
Used to be most states outlawed oral sex. Most don’t anymore. A great majority of adults do it, so it reflects a moral and ethical standard hey believe is acceptable. keeping such a law on the books is silly.
As a woman female Cuban psychologist friend of mine often said (she was Catholic, too):
“When the pr*ck is up, who thinks of God?”
I am betting the same could be said about oaths to abstinence. Nature finds a way around such barriers.
Since schools do such a great job of teaching science, math, civics, etc., how bad could it be if they taught sexual education?
At it’s core sex ed does not teach skills/knowledge needed to actually survive in society. You may not like it, but you can live without having sex.
This is just another example of government reaching into areas it does not belong.
PM,How long have you been without it?
I see, Proudman.So it’s just another gov’t. REACH AROUND
PM–
How successful has “just say no” been for sex in the past?
That’s why I keep asking the question–why do conservatives continue to do what keeps failing?
stop sex ed
stop abortion (there are 20 percent fewer abortions today than when it was illegal in the late 60’s)
tax breaks for the rich
foreign policy based on military power
spending three 4.5 percent of GDP on the military when Europe and Asia spend no more than 2.6
If these policies worked, I would be in favor of them. Why can’t you stop supporting them when they’ve proven they DON’T WORK?
Ignore the word “three” before 4.5 in that previous post . . .
Thank you.
LH,
I’m a Libertarian, not a conservative. Re-read the post. I never promoted the ‘just say no’ education, I say that this is just another intrusion of government into an area where it does not belong. Go take a downer or something. This is a discussion on sex ed in government schools not a discussion on abortion / taxes / military intervention / spending.
Tracy, that was darn funny.
If this is the same PM that we all know and love, he is indeed a Libertarian. The kind of person that Al Fraken tells us cannot get along with others.
He should be held in from recess and asked to an assignmeent that describes why other people are important.
I bet he fails that assignment so miserably that he will be sent to the outer confines of Butler County with no permission to ever return to civilization.
The punishment will be fine with him, because he is hoping for a return of the middle ages.
PM welcomes you to the new dark ages. Or, the Bush Administration; whichever seems best applicable to you.
Funny TRACY. I am not as familiar with your posts as some of the “old timers” here, but welcome. I hope you post early and often!
You’d be surprised how many of those girls who took the pledge and didn’t think they needed birth control ended up at the women’s clinic where I volunteer.
I bet they showed up without the boys too, eh jed?
That famous culture of personal responsibility. Everyone loves a fetus, but no one wants the live baby.
IOKIYAAR
It is indeed I, the ProudMan who feels the strange love here.
I didn’t get held inside from recess, but let’s discuss the value of other people. Other people are so valuable that I want them to have the same freedoms and liberties that I do. The freedom and liberty should be so extensive that it would only be limited when their actions harm the life, liberty, or property of someone else.
So this is in direct contrast with the various forms of societal control often advocated here. Take this sex ed discussion. It is a foregone conclusion for most people that some kind of sex ed will be taught in government schools. Right there you have a restriction of liberty, the child will be taught in the school about sex. This particular thread discusses what the content of that ‘education’ should be. Much like the evolution/ID debate, those in control through political office will make the decision for all of us. That is another restriction of liberty. Even if you agree with the choices made by those in power regarding this issue, they have made your choices for you. If you don’t like the choices made you have limited options, especially if you are not a person of means.
When you value the other person you don’t force choices upon them. The typical left/right individuals here are always trying to force their choices onto all of society. Each time they advocate using the government to achieve their goal is just another example of how they favor forcing their neighbor to make the ‘right’ decision.
When you value other people, you don’t drag them around by the ear to make sure they always make the right decision as you see it.
PM,”Right there you have a restriction of liberty, the child will be taught in the school about sex.”Begging your pardon, but the child will also be taught in the school about arithmetic. Why shouldn’t the child be taught the circumstances and mechanisms by which one plus one can sometimes equal three, and the means to prevent it?
Farm Gal,Some did, but most were accompanied by their mothers.
Jed,
I’m against forcing people to attend school. It doesn’t matter what you are teaching them or if it is ‘good’ for them. The fact remains that you will have made the choice for them, regardless of the subject being taught.
PM,Well, the alternative to making choices for kids is to let the kids decide what they want to learn. Sex, video gaming and basketball will be the only courses offered.We make choices for our kids because they, being uneducated, are unqualified to make them. And we, as a society, have determined what areas of study seem the most necessary for the survival of our kids and society. A culture of dolts is not conducive to democracy.
Jed,
I never said parents shouldn’t make choices for their children. I say that you or I shouldn’t make choices for other people’s children.
PM,You and I make choices for other people’s children each time we pass a law. This is a society we live in, and the society has a responsibility to see that it’s members are educated enough to understand their own responsibilities. We have enough trouble from people who were educated in bigotry, lawlessness and/or promiscuity by their parents.
Jed,
A key part of my position is the understanding that laws force a choice onto the lawful. I disagree with the contention that we must enact laws in order to raise the proper society. Many governments have abused the power given them to achieve the ‘proper society’. Totalitarian regimes throughout history have acted in the way you are suggesting as they seek to control society. The acts they committed are called heinous and criminal for a reason.
That is why I advocate a limited government. We need some government, but only to secure our life, liberty, and property. Shaping society is not a proper role of government.
PM,Whether you like it or not, all governments shape society, so unless you are a committed anarchist, you are also advocating the shaping of society. If you are an anarchist, don’t worry; there won’t be one left to shape.
Kids are having sex. Raging hormones will increase the sex drive of animals, and that is true of humans as well. I think the regression or progression (depending on your outlook on human sexuality today) of sex in modern society from the past Puritan outlook on sex has changed really out of the grass-roots American base, it doesn’t have anything to do with government changing social norms or values. Remember that governments are comprised of people, and that the modern Americans outlook on sex is much different than that of past Americans. I personally blame it all on Howard Stern! ;)
I could use some raging hormones…. anyone know where I can get any?
Yes, Jed, governments by their nature will shape society. However, I advocate a limited government so as to prevent control of society. From your posts you must favor government education, a key aspect of controlling society.
PM,I favor education, from whatever source, over ignorance. Our public educational system does a far better job than it’s critics seem to think. I’m a product of that system, as are my children. As far as “government controlling society,” a lot of governments have tried, and a few have partially succeeded for a little while before failing completely, but none has actually done it. Attempts at total control bring total rebellion. Any attempt by government to use the schools as propaganda mills is foredoomed in the long run, especially now, when information is so readily available to anyone. What worries me is the damage caused by those attempts. It has a tendency to linger.