How do you feel about the president's plans to make schools only teach abstinence sex education?

I live in England, and I heard teen pregnancy has been decreasing in the US for a while already. So what's the fuss about?

"Two years ago I was at my friend's house and her brother was getting changed into a swimsuit in the same room as us (we weren't getting changed and don't ask why he was getting changed there) and he said "don't look" and I looked...and let me tell you...it wasn't pretty."

eek.

-rito

Meh, that's not going to work... people are still going to have sex, they're just going to do it unsafely because they're uneducated.

quote:

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marijuana is 100% legal in new zealand...and teen marijuana use is something like less than 15%.

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You can't base your opinion on just that. New Zealand's different to the US. Maybe the reason teen marijuana use is so low over there is not because it's legal but because New Zealand is not very urban, so less of an urban drug culture?
Maybe that's not a factor, but my point is there are other considerations to make.

Inky

When my nana was my age, apparently, she didn't even know guys HAD penises. (Great, nana, thanks for sharing).

So I suppose things have improved, education-wise.

Teaching abstinence is stupid. It might be an encourageable policy when people are young, but teaching only abstinence is just encouraging ignorance. Not to mention it's futile. It's a matter of personal choice. Whether it's sooner or later, they'll reach that stage and have sex some day, and they should be informed.

Bex

well of course you can get pregnant and iseases if you wear a condom. Planned parent hood talked to us too, and they mentioned it just decreases you chance. But it can still happen.

Lol...

My school doesn't do anything, they don't teach anything baout sex education. My elementry school did, when we were in the second grade. Three girls got pregnant last year (in the 7TH GRADE!), so they obviously need to do something.

I don't think the abstinence education is going to work. Like rito said, it's only natural for humans to go against what they're told. I've done it too. (when people say "don't look!") I think everyone has. Common sense. But I give Bush credit. He's trying to help.
-Sunset

Rito- speaking of sex and looking when people say "don't look"....

Two years ago I was at my friend's house and her brother was getting changed into a swimsuit in the same room as us (we weren't getting changed and don't ask why he was getting changed there) and he said "don't look" and I looked...and let me tell you...it wasn't pretty.

Anyways..my school teaches everything, not just abstince. My sex-ed teacher is only around 24 so he's more...open you know? He usually tells us whatever we want to know.

well to summarize what abraham lincoln said about marijuana being illegal is that it makes a completely fine and moral decision into something terrible when its made illegal

here is a useful little fact that i learned in geography (ha, you DO use some of it!). marijuana is 100% legal in new zealand...and teen marijuana use is something like less than 15%. but HERE it is a HUGE problem. found in every high school, even almost every public middle school, and in ALL colleges, marijuana use in the US for teens has skyrocketed. i don't know remember (haha) the exact %age, but i do know that it is MUCH higher. why? dur, because it is ILLEGAL. people in new zealand don't care if you smoke marijuana because its nothing special. nothing “edgy” about it, but here people are all over it. im not saying that reverse psychology is going to work on sex ed., but i am saying that it is something that should be taken into note. if teens didn’t put on so much pressure about losing your virginity, premarital sex might not be as much of a big deal therefore, it would probably become less popular.

Some of the things they tell you in sex education are just stupid. If they think they can stop people from having premaritial sex by telling them that it is wrong, they are mistaken. People know that it is wrong. It is more of an ethical question really. People KNOW you can get pregnant, people KNOW about hiv and other diseases, people KNOW you shouldn't do it. Sometimes I think teens know more about sex than some adults do...honestly now. Some of the things are important and stuff, but more of it we already no, so quit treating us like we are 6 and "sex" is a new word to us.

Have you ever seen Mona Lisa Smile? Case in point. Teaching only abstinence is a stupid idea. Check this out: Technical Virgin.

w00t.

And, of course, DARE actually increased drug use.

the abstinence policy tends to make those who have had sex look like evil worthless people. This is totally wrong just like the DARE program makes those that have tried drugs look like the lowest of low people on earth. A decision deemed stupid by some does not make anyone a bad person.

I think that teaching about the risks and what happens and protection and all o that stuff is the only way for it to work. But our school does not teach that class so that's the science teacher's job when we get to that chapter. I'm so glad you don't have to hear "the gumball talk"!

i think just teaching abstenince is bad. people from planned parenthood came in and they were like"if you play in the street wearing protection you can still get hurt, so if you have sex even with protection, you can still get STDs/pregnant
and everyone was like"well if i wanna have sex i will! if i don't want to wait till marriage I wont!" so it doesnt really do anything, people just do what they want, but its safer to teach about candoms, pills, etc, too. but i kno most kids my age would always use a condom (not that most people are having sex yet but if they were...) i think people know about safety and stuff

I think as long as they present the information and don't tell them they can't or it's bad it'll be fine. The information needs to be taught not lecutred to kids. If they want to have sex they'll have it. Just provide the necessary facts, and ways to protect themselves i don't see any harm. It's all about the way you teach it

Phah. Teaching abstinence only is unrealistic. Not only that, the WAY they teach it isn't discouraging anyone from having sex. Blah, blah, blah. You know what I'm getting at. Jen.

I think it's great that sex-ed is being taught in school. In the 7th grade, we had a whole week where people from planned parent hood came to talk to us about sex. It was good because now i know everything about sex. I don't have to ask my parents about any of that stuff, because i know everything there is to know about sex,protection,diseases, and that it's totally up to me when it comes to my sexuality. Plus it's good because if your parents don't feel comfortable, or don't want to talk about sex with you, you can go to sex ed and learn everything there is to learn.