Study shows that Abstinence Only Sex Ed doesn't work...

Well duh it doesn't work! First of all, it's not based on any kind of sound fact and therefore gives no tools to the kids who DON'T choose abstinence. It also treats sex as forbidden and dirty...how does that teach any kind of self respect? And self respect is the number one thing one would need to have an intimate relationship. So then, we have all of these young women especially (young men are also affected) that have all of these sexy images shoved in their faces, and they're told how to look sexy, but they have no idea how to BE sexy, which to me involves "owning" it and being in charge of one's own choices and values.

Ugh....sorry, I'm going off on a tangent. It's early and probably none of this is very coherent!

And no, I don't see comprehensive sex ed being a priority in the near future. This administration has made it known that they will pander to conservative Christians and abstinence is a value that conservative Christians hold close to their hearts.

nope sorry not allowed,

has nothing to do with christian or not being christian, goverment has no business teaching sex to my kids that is my job.

oh yea, wanted to add, i did not think it would work. BUt i still dont want goverment in the sex business in any shape or bedroom

Sex education shouldn't be just about sex. Don't know about you guys, but mine started in 4th grade. That's when I began to learn about periods, boys, and such.

It should be taught in a factual manor stating you're body is going to do this and that and it's all part of the process.

Abstinance-only IMO just leaves the door open for more pregnancies, STDs, etc because the kids were not taught anything else. They do not know about condoms, they do not know about birth control, diseases and what can happen.

People should just accept that sex before marriage is quite common and that's it. People are...errr...experimenting before marriage. I'm proud to say that I was abstinant -by choice - for a long time. One person I met couldn't understand this and pointed out: "what happens if the person you marry is just terrible in bed?" I countered with "How would I know if its bad???"

Anyways, abstinance should be left as a choice of birth control rather than the only possible way to avoid getting pregnant. People are still animals in some sense and have "urges". Sex is one of them.

I agree with Bruce.

The issue is that most parents DON'T! My parents basically just said 'Don't get pregnant, or you'll be in big trouble" Had I not had the formal and informal education I got at school, I wouldn't have known what a condom was, I wouldn't have known how exactly to go about saying "no" before I was ready, I wouldn't know who can safely take hormonal contraceptives and what the risks and side-effects are. And the fact is is that most parents don't actually know a lot of these things. Can you honestly tell me that you tell your kids "Well, we don't want you to have sex for a, b and c reasons, but if you do, here are your risks and here's how to safely reduce them"? Because, I'm sorry, but that is what kids need, period. The age at which these classes are being taught sex ed is that age at which there is a certain amount of just letting go and hoping they'll make decent choices.

So, no. I don't trust parents to teach their children adequately. And it's not necessarily the parents' faults...but they are emotionally involved on a level which profoundly affects the quality and kinds of information the kids get about sex. I would guess that an extremely small percentage of parents actually talk candidly and give their children the whole picture. Leave it up to most parents would have about as much value as abstinence only sex ed.

Well DUH! Of course it doesn't work! It isn't actually sex education to say here's what it is - now don't do it.

The problem with the view that you don't want the gov't having anything to do with sex education is that there are simply too many parents who don't teach their kids anything. Yes, there are also good parents who do, but do you want 1/2 (a guess) the kids your child's age to have no clue about sex and just be left to pick it up over the internet and from their friends?

IMO the problem with the whole sex education debate is that we're talking about teaching moral choices. That is NOT the job of the schools/gov't. But teaching facts IS the job of the schools/gov't. There are many things that should be taught - anatomy, reproduction, STDs, prevention of pregnancy and STD (which should include abstinence). I don't understand, and frankly never will, why there is such an issue with teaching facts.

Some people would say that drinking, drug, and tobacco use is also a personal/moral choice, yet there is not a debate about whether schools can teach how horrible those are, with no alternate view presented (i.e. consuming alcohol in moderation can be OK for most people).

I was taught abstinance only but I knew about condoms and STD's and birth control. Come on now, we are in the real world, what child could not help but know of these things, it is on TV.
Schools need to butt out of parent's work. It is NOT their responsibility.

So, are you saying parents should be teaching this or TV?

In all seriousness, just knowing about condoms doesn't mean much. My mother teaches family life (high school level, as a semester long elective). The things they don't know and think they know is shocking. Many didn't know how to USE a condom. They aren't as simple as they look, and not doing it correctly causes it to not work. The type of things the previous poster mentioned really do happen. Or they're told by peers to use the rhythm method. Fine if you've got a religious issue against birth control, but the kids need to know the reality of how well this works.

Back to the study though...I find it interesting that they only tracked condom usage, and not other forms of birth control. Having gone through a real sex ed class myself back in California, what I learned was condoms work, but are not as reliable as the pill (presuming one actually takes the pill regularly). Most women I know chose the pill over condoms because of this. They felt they could control that better, and that made it less risky. They really should have investigated all forms of birth control. But maybe they did, and the Post just didn't report it? Do we know where the actual study is?

I was more comfortable hearing about sex in the formal atmosphere of the classroom than in awkward sit-down conversations with my parents (we still had those talks but I know when I was learning the most !!)

Almost all kids get sex-ed in school here and it seems to work too. There are 9 times as many teenage mothers in the US than in the Netherlands. Teens in the Netherlands are on average 17.7 years old when they first have intercourse, Teens in the US 15.8 years. We don't talk about abstinence but are made to think about what you might want and need to do before you actually find yourself in a situation. When teenagers are approached as adults they do respond to that.

http://www.unesco.org/courier/2000_07/uk/apprend2.htm

I knew how NOT to get pregnant, it is pretty simple, one doesn't need much education to learn that.

Yep, a lot of people I know personally have/had no idea about how their bodies are built.. for instance, two of my friends thought that there was only one opening and that you peed and bled from the same place.. and one wouldn't ever wear a tampon because she thought she couldn't insert it properly since she wouldn't be able to pee...

Others have no idea about how you can contract HIV, and are psychotic about being near someone who is HIV positive.. afraid they're going to catch it sitting in the same room with that person.. one had no idea what STDs were.. or how to use condoms.. and this is just a group of some of my friends.. which I hate to say because it makes them seem a little backwards, but.. you know, it really is common. There are a lot of intelligent people who just have no clue. None of these women were stupid or uneducated.

Lot of parents dont do stuff they should. SOOO we should just let the Govt take over are kids from the min they are born? i have no issue with the school teacing the biology behind sex. but That is all they need to be teaching.

and sometimes a little fear is a good thing,(just a little)
how mine said if you get a girl pregnanat your in trouble

There will always be many people that live with their head under a rock.
I would hazard a guess that normal females that don't know how a woman gets pregnant are most likely mentally challenged.

What? I'm sorry - were you born with the innate knowledge of exactly what your body does and doesn't do? I know I wasn't, and I don't consider myself to be mentally challenged.

The biggest part of the issue is not that girls don't know that having sex could get them pregnant, it's the myths that they are told and believe - i.e. you can't get pregnant your first time, you can't get pregnant if you are on your period, if he just pulls out you can't get pregnant, you just have to jump up and down after sex to not get pregnant. And that's not touching the idea of STDs, which can render them infertile or kill them in some cases.

I'm not saying that morality regarding sex in ANY way should be taught in schools (besides the basic taboos - incest and rape). But I don't understand what is wrong with teaching them FACTS. That's not saying that it should just be assumed that they will have sex when they are young, but I do think it's irresponsible not to teach them the facts about their bodies and how they work.

Go out into public on any day of the week and tell me that the parents who have zero control over their screaming, running kids in Wal Mart or the grocery store will actually teach their kids about sex. Or the single mother whose children (yes, multiple, and all under the age of 10) run around the neighborhood with no supervision until she gets home from shopping at around 8:00 at night will actually have a sit down with her kids about sex. (yes, that is a real example) Or the parents who don't even give a rip that their kid isn't learning anything in school.

As far as I know, parents still have the option to pull their kids from the sex education portion of health classes. Why should every kid forego being educated about sex because you don't believe in it? OK, you're a good parent and will talk about the birds and the bees, as well as the morality of it. There are a LOT of parents who won't.

I personally opted out of sex ed in the three different schools that I went to school at two were private religious ones... My mother gave me more info than I ever wanted to know ... I think parents should do it but the schools should have programs covering ALL choices ...

Ummm..children that don't have a TV in their household????

You would actually be surprised at the number of people that don't know about condoms or birth control. Boyfriend is in social work and use to work foster care. Many stories that he told me, well basically states that a lot of people don't know that you can get pregnant by having sex (Mainly because they're too busy ditching school, avoiding church, and don't have a solid communication line with their parents).

they're not mentally challenged people...it's just the way the society is build around here.

This isn't just about teenage pregnancy either though. This is a public health problem. How many teenagers would learn from tv or their parents that they can contract certain STDs even if they use a condom? Or that birth control pills, spermicides, and some other birth control methods will help prevent pregnancy but will not prevent the spread of STD's? I used to work in the lab of a blood donation center, and it's scary seeing positive test results for HIV, Hep C, syphilis, etc. from people who thought they were safe and only wanted to help the community.

Because it is a public health problem, I do think it should be taught in schools. Most parents in the rural area where I grew up, including mine, only taught girls that pregnancy would get us in trouble with them. When you got your period your mom showed you where she kept the pads and tampons and left you to it. Boys really weren't told anything, because "boys will be boys." This is recent- I'm only 26. The only reason any of us knew anything about condoms, STD's, etc was that we had mandatory health/sex-ed in middle school. And it was combined health and sex-ed. We also learned how our bodies worked, about healthy food, and first aid.

In college, I met people who went through abstinence-only education because they went to religious schools. One girl told me you can't get pregnant if your boyfriend pours cold water in you after sex. An ex-boyfriend didn't know that there were diseases you can get from just genital contact, he thought transmission required orgasm. Since he also thought sex was safe as long as you pulled out, he could have easily caught and spread an STD.

Do you really want your kids and their friends raised in ignorance? After all, no matter what you teach your kid, when they grow up it's some else's kid they'll be sleeping with.

Well, I think basically that schools should stay out of people's personal lives, in that.. as an example, I don't think schools should teach religion or politics, or morals. Those things are up to the parents to teach, and instill in their children. That being said, while some parents will do that, there's a long stretch of children that aren't going to get that because they have parents who are struggling to raise them, working two/three jobs, and they don't have the strong social or homelife structure that they need, and I think schools end up playing a huge part in how our children are formed.

However.. I do think that options, and facts, should be taught. I think sex ed (not how to have sex, or this is how you pleasure a woman/man, etc), but this is what STDs are, this is how you prevent them, various birth control methods and the proper was to use them...and what their safety/effectiveness factor is. Sex education also teaches (at least my school did) what is inappropriate, when you should report something, what is considered to be harassment, molestation, etc.

In the case of sexual abuse or molestation, you can't *always* count on the parents or guardians to teach this. A very high percentage of sexual abuse occurs in the home. How can you trust a father figure to teach their child about sex if he's abusing them? I think some of this stuff is definitely something that should be taught. IMO, this is definitely something that should be taught by a third party and adamantly reinforced by the family.

I mean, my mom taught me as much as she could.. more about when I should or shouldn't have or decide to have sex. Of course she opted for the "don't have sex until you're really in love, and over the age of 90" tactic, but she did make an effort, but honestly.. my mother thought until she was an adult that you could get pregnant by brushing up against a boy walking down the hall or getting on the bus.. how on earth is she going to give me a proper education on STDs, pregnancy, birth control, etc? She did a decent job on the morality side of it.. but you know, my entire family with the exception of my sister and nephew are all old school. There was no one around for me, really, except my sister to teach me. My elder, very proper family knew nothing about it, really.

Fortunately I had the school and my sister is or rather was a proper hoiyden(sp.). Now she's a stick in the mud, but thankfully that didn't happen until after my teen years.

I'm sorry, I just don't buy it. Not in this day in age.

At the very least parents should have to give their permission for their kids to be in Sex Ed.

Like I said, I believe this is still the case. At least it is here. Prior notification is given, parents do have to sign permission, and they can choose to have their kids pulled from the class without detriment to their grade in that class. That's how it was 20+ years ago when I went through it, and it's still how it is now.

Same here! They were sent through the mail. I actually felt bad for the 1 or 2 kids that had to leave the room...they were picked on the most during that week at school.

May I add also: not every kid wants to learn about sex from their parent. I would've rather died at that age then to talk about sex with either of my parents. Even to this day. My mom did offer if I had any questions to ask, but OMG no way. Couldn't do it, cause that was like admitting that they (mom and dad) had sex. Aaaaaaa!!! *runs out of room singing: "Lalalaalalalalalalalalala..."*

So, parents DO have to give permission for Sex Ed but teen girls can go have an abortion without parental permission. Oh, what a whacky world we live in, only in America.

Perhaps with better sex education programs, there would be less teenaged girls in need of an abortion. (=

That depends on the state. I believe in Colorado there is a parental notification law for abortions.

Of course, if you live in South Dakota..

Here in Canada, schools do not need parental permission. It is part of the required curriculum for grade 5 through grade 9 and comes as a unit in health class in Saskatchewan.