Education

Quotable:

Conservatives say teaching sex education in the public schools will promote promiscuity. With our education system? If we promote promiscuity the same way we promote math or science, they’ve got nothing to worry about. -- Beverly Mickins

But that doesn't stop Texas state legislators Sen. Ron Ellis and Rep. Joaquin Castro from trying to roll more enlightenment into Texas classrooms (Ellis is the lawmaker who co-sponsored a bill to rein it the creationist Texas Board of Education with an oversight law - sign the petition to thank him if you haven't already).

Ellis and Castro are calling for changes in the (almost) Abstinence-Only sex education taught in Texas classrooms.

According to the current law governing sex education in Texas schools, teachers must emphasize abstinence above all other methods of birth control. If passed, the Education Works Act would remove this section from the current law. (source)

{snip}

If passed, the bill would require Texas public schools that teach sex education to present students with medically accurate, age-appropriate information about sexually contracted infections and contraception, the bill’s authors said.

“Only through information will teens have the tools they need to make responsible decisions,” Ellis said. “It is true that abstinence is the only 100-percent way to avoid STIs and pregnancy, but experience has also taught us that abstinence from education does not work.”

Hear, hear. Reality-based education in Texas. What a concept.

Want more proof of that reality? From the same article:

The state of Texas has the highest teenage pregnancy rate in the country. Every 1,000 girls between the ages of 16 and 19 in Texas, 63 will become pregnant, said Austin gynecologist Diana Wise.

And if the following research is anywhere close to accurate, the reality is that abstinence has not been realistic for decades. Not only do birds and bees do it - so did Ozzie and Harriet, Ward and June:

The vast majority of Americans have sex before marriage. A 2006 study by the Guttmacher Institute found that 95 percent of Americans engage in pre-marital sex. As Guttmacher put it, the practice is "nearly universal among Americans and has been for decades." The "abstinence-until-marriage" message is completely disconnected from reality,

Texas spent $18 million spreading the "abstinence-only" message in 2007. It's not working. The state has one of the highest teen birth rates in the nation and, according to TFN, spends $1 billion annually on the costs associated with teen pregnancy.

I wish Texas - and indeed the entire nation - had a sex education policy that was based in the real world. Alas, it appears that won't be arriving any time soon. The federal 2009 Omnibus Appropriations bill is out. It allocates $94 million for more "abstinence-only" programs.

I'm tempted to write another "Thank you" petition to Sen. Ellis, but fear the 1,400 or so in the last week from you good folks are already swelling his inbox and, I hope, his head. It's nice to see such a strong supporter of education in Texas.

Parents who prefer life on De Nile, by the way, can opt opt their children out of the course proposed in Texas.

How about your neck of the woods? Is abstinence still the gospel in your schools? Any signs of change?

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