New at Reason

David Weigel | September 1, 2006

Kerry Howley tries to understand the battle over sex ed, and the motivations of do-gooders who want to keep facts and prophylactics far, far away from those pesky teenagers.

Comments

|9.1.06 @ 2:44PM|#

Let's see...

- The state that's next in line to introduce intelligent design into the school science curriculum is also teaching abstinence only in sex ed.
- Voting irregularities in OH helped Bush win in '04.

Ahhh, I've got it. This is a red state. Teach ALL the controversies!

|9.1.06 @ 2:45PM|#

If sex ed is good, why do they frown on extracurricular practice?

|9.1.06 @ 3:07PM|#

profylactics

THAT'S A BAD DAVID!!

|9.1.06 @ 3:07PM|#

profylactics

THAT'S A BAD DAVID!!

|9.1.06 @ 3:19PM|#

and the motivations of do-gooders who want to keep facts and profylactics far, far away from those pesky teenagers.

I would think that the idea that it is the states resposibility to teach sexuality to children would be asthima to libertarian orthidoxy...apperantly a particular version of sexual morality has put a twinkle in the proverbial libertarian's eye

|9.1.06 @ 3:23PM|#

A 13% pragnacy rate means that 87% of the girls are not pregnant. Can the teachers of the other curricula boast of a success rate as high? Do 87% of the student know multiplication through twelves? Do 87% of the high school students read at or above their grade level?

A school doesn't need a Health Care Professional to teach Sex Ed, just a good Spin Doctor.

|9.1.06 @ 3:31PM|#

In my first attempt, I spelled pregnancy correctly. Damn you, Server Squirrel!

|9.1.06 @ 3:35PM|#

David Weigel:

But why, if it is likely a waste of time, entertain the controversy at all?

So that they can mollify folks by saying that they're "doing something".

|9.1.06 @ 4:23PM|#

My fiendish plot to purposely misspell words and induce a stroke in Ayn_Randian is proceeding as planned.

thoreau|9.1.06 @ 4:27PM|#

A lot of people with a lot of different opinions all seem to agree that if teenagers sit through a lesson their behavior will change. Some might say it will change for the better, some might say it will change for the worse, but all agree that if teenagers sit through a lesson their behavior will change.

Um, yeah, whatever.

And apparently the professor quoted in the article agrees with me.

thoreau|9.1.06 @ 4:33PM|#

No, David, you're plot is procedeing as planed. Get it strait!

dagny|9.1.06 @ 5:00PM|#

What's really unbelievable is the amount of money they spend on "abstinence education". I mean, there's really not much to teach there... "Don't have sex. That way you won't get pregnant or an STD." Anything more is a waste of time.

I mean, if schools want to remove real sex ed, fine. They're probably not getting any facts through anyway if it's anything like everything else in our schools.

But dumping more money in our schools with the excuse that you prevent kids from having sex by bringing someone in to burn bits of flash paper (like the educator in the Bullshit episode) ... aargh.

Shannon Love|9.1.06 @ 5:10PM|#

I think the most effective abstinence based sex education was WWII-era VD films. Watch some of those and you will keep your pants zipped for quite some time. I've spoken to some vets that are still traumatized 60 years later.

|9.1.06 @ 6:17PM|#

Shannon,

I remember the anti drunk driving films that they showed us in high school making quite a horrific impression. Hmm, maybe that's why I?ve been drunk a whole 3 or 4 time in my life...Na, I'm just too hep.

One of the films featured a poor intoxicated fellow who lost control and sped thru a field of tree stumps. Somehow the door opened and he fell half way out till the open door hit one of the stumps and severed him in two. Charming, huh?

|9.1.06 @ 6:28PM|#

Rick Barton

Obviously, we must ban tree stumps.

[Ron Bailey's GM trees would come in handy here.)

|9.1.06 @ 9:03PM|#

"I think the most effective abstinence based sex education was WWII-era VD films."

Shannon Love,
I was of the Vietnam era, but I can report that, after seeing the sucking chest wound films, I have not sucked a single chest.

|9.2.06 @ 9:05AM|#

Adolescent sex, apparently, indicates a policy failure,...

Kerry's bias is showing.

Sex didn't indicate a policy failure...pregnancy did. It was a policy failure because the policy (ostensibly) was supposed to prevent teen pregnancy.

...Luker can't find a single study robust enough to back.

Just because Luker can't find 'em doesn't mean they're not there. There are plenty of studies and they repeatedly show that:

1. Abstinence only progams are an almost universal failure.

2. Comprehensive programs that include conraception tend to result in lower rates of teen pregnancy. Some also indicate lower rates of STD rates as well.

|9.2.06 @ 10:41AM|#

I would think that the idea that it is the states resposibility to teach sexuality to children would be asthima to libertarian orthidoxy...apperantly a particular version of sexual morality has put a twinkle in the proverbial libertarian's eye

Why stop there? Why don't parents just teach kids their own history and science too? If you want to teach your kids that the world was created in 6 days and that George Washington didn't have slaves that's your right.

|9.2.06 @ 11:23AM|#

Obviously teaching kids about sex is the responsibility of the parents. I guess people just got tired of the parents, both left and right, neglecting this responsibility. I would even suggest, without any clue whatsoever, that parents are probably relieved that they don't have to talk labia with their kids.

|9.2.06 @ 12:26PM|#

conservatives could stand before the sons and daughters of liberal intellectuals and preach the wonders of waiting.

I wonder if anyone thinks after their first time "Boy, am I glad I waited for that!" rather than "six thrusts. WTF"?

The deeper you delve into controversies over the sexual education of public school kids, the easier it is to forget kids were ever involved.

You could swap out "sexual education of public school kids" for almost any political "hot button" topic and this sentence wil still be true.

|9.2.06 @ 4:49PM|#

Sexual coupling is a powerful enough urge that a hag like Andrea Dworkin, according to her writings, was able to sell her services (presumably to willing buyers). How realistic is it to suppose that just saying, "Don't do it," will have any effect at all?

|9.2.06 @ 5:07PM|#

Geez, we had sex ed in Catholic school, even if they split it up between Religion and Health class. We learned that:

1.) Sex with somebody else before marriage was a sin.

2.) Sex with somebody other than your spouse, once you were married, was a sin. If you even desired to have sex with anybody you weren't married to without marrying them, that was a sin, too.

3.) Sex by yourself, anytime, was a sin.

4.) KSU/GKUBS (knocking someone up, or getting knocked up by someone) was a sin, unless that someone was your spouse.

5.) Having sex while trying to prevent KSU/GKUBS was a sin, even with a spouse. Of course, catching or spreading an STD by NOT using prevention was a sin, too.

6.) Sex is a gift from God to husbands and wives that allows them to share their love, but it's all empty and icky if there's no possibility of KSU/GKUBS. So no M/M or F/F. Vasectomies and tubal ligations are the devil's tools, too.

7.) Anybody who never gets married never gets to have any sex of any kind, ever, ever, ever.

8.) If, after getting knocked up, someone tries to 86 the results, that's killing precious human life, you murderer!

9.) No knocking up if the "precious human life" comes from a petri dish. Whad'ya think is gonna happen to the "spares", you murderer!

I now believe all (or most) of the above is total crap, but it was my parents' right to have it forced into my ears, and more parents ought to be able to exercise that right. Quibbling about what the publik skools use as sex ed curriculum is so far down the list of libertarian concerns that one can't even see it while standing where school choice/school privatization is on the totem pole.

Kevin

|9.2.06 @ 6:31PM|#

induce a stroke in Ayn_Randian

Take comfort in the knowledge that in another thread the strokee in question misused 'reign' for 'rein'. So nobody's prefect.

|9.4.06 @ 12:18AM|#

I attended Philadelphia Catholic schools. Kevin ( kerbob) is not exaggerating. I testify that I too was taught the same. And, it was my parents' complete right to send me to a school that filled my head with this.

I hold that government schools are an abomination. While a student may possibly opt out of these sex-ed classes, he can not opt out from the association with all the other students who have attended. ( Violation of the First Amendment Right to free association.)

There is NO possible way that any government school can teach sex education in a religiously neutral manner. Learning about human sexuality has profound religious consequences. No matter how the government school approaches the topic it will be establishing the religious worldview of some, while undermining that of others. ( Violation of the First Amendment right of government establishment of religion)

Finally, sex education is merely one of hundreds of issues that can not be resolved by the government school in a neutral manner.

Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Let parents, teachers, and parents decide upon sex education, and hundreds of other issues, privately in private schools.

|9.4.06 @ 12:18AM|#

I attended Philadelphia Catholic schools. Kevin ( kerbob) is not exaggerating. I testify that I too was taught the same. And, it was my parents' complete right to send me to a school that filled my head with this.

I hold that government schools are an abomination. While a student may possibly opt out of these sex-ed classes, he can not opt out from the association with all the other students who have attended. ( Violation of the First Amendment Right to free association.)

There is NO possible way that any government school can teach sex education in a religiously neutral manner. Learning about human sexuality has profound religious consequences. No matter how the government school approaches the topic it will be establishing the religious worldview of some, while undermining that of others. ( Violation of the First Amendment right of government establishment of religion)

Finally, sex education is merely one of hundreds of issues that can not be resolved by the government school in a neutral manner.

Solution: Begin the process of privatizing universal K-12 education. Let parents, teachers, and parents decide upon sex education, and hundreds of other issues, privately in private schools.