Friday, April 20, 2007
A recent study commissioned by Congress revealed last week what pragmatists have long suspected: that abstinence-only sex education is failing. The study found that students who participated in abstinence education programs were not only just as likely as non-participants to have sex, but also frequently had the same number of sexual partners.
nutgraf
The real problem with abstinence education is that it is rooted in absolutism, and thus refuses to acknowledge both adaptations and realities of the evolving world around it.
Programs that promote abstinence more than safe sex have been criticized for years as ignorant and wholly impractical, and perhaps even dangerous, in their opposition to birth control. Not surprisingly, the debate has often been heated and fraught with theological implications. Further, the implementation and execution of abstinence programs in American schools has cost taxpayers around $175 million a year, making it an issue that affects every taxed American.
Though many critics will tell you differently, the primary problem of abstinence education has never been its admittedly unsettling religious overtones, which can come perilously close to religious education in public schools. The real problem with abstinence education is that it is rooted in absolutism, and thus refuses to acknowledge both adaptations and realities of the evolving world around it.
The programs make one dangerous assumption: that with proper motivation, hormone-saturated teenagers can be convinced to overcome their most primal urges. This goal is noble in purpose and perhaps someday achievable in practice, but, as this study confirms, has proven both impractical and costly in practice.
In the face of increasing teenage sexual activity, the answer is not to retreat into a shell of blind ignorance of the world around us. Uncomfortable though it may make us, educators must acknowledge and address practical solutions.
The roads of history are littered with institutions and organizations that refused to adapt to changing realities — sex education is too integral to children’s health to become one of those institutions.
The study did include one positive note: students in abstinence programs were no more likely to have unprotected sex than those in other programs. A criticism of abstinence programs has been that their ignorance of birth control can lead to more unprotected sex, but this study dispels that point. At the very least, we can take solace in this result of abstinence programs.
Abstinence-only programs may someday be suitable in American education, but for now they have proven too costly and too unfeasible. Proponents of such programs would do well to recall the strange and new tension of their own teenage years, and to recognize that absolute and unilateral solutions rarely fit complicated health dilemmas.
McKay Stangler for the editorial board.
Cohen: Abstinence-only education insane
New bill is a waste of money and won't improve health of ...
Group to take petition on pub crawl
Commission on the Status for Women promotes sexual awareness in Kansas with ...
Mistreatment of women exacerbates AIDS epidemic
Free: Good sex education teaches more than ...
Quality sex education needs to be comprehensive.
Letter: Abstinence-only classes haven’t slowed Plan B
No sex is good sex
It’s hard to ignore sex as a college student, and often virginity ...
Letter to the editor: the scary truth
Anti-abortion displays showed the gruesome realities of abortion.
Editorial: Bush’s ‘blind faith’ problematic
Bush’s veto of latest Democratic bill highlights the problems of the administration ...
Kansas in Heat: How to have a ...
Tackling the sticky situation of relationships.
One country's sex is another's taboo
See how America's view of sex compares to other opinions from around ...
Letter to the Editor: Sex education reform ...
Abstinence-only education leaves out vital information.
Cosby: Congress overreacting by defunding Planned Parenthood
Defunding Planned Parenthood would jeopardize vital services needed for the reproductive and ...
Bledowski: Europeans are more comfortable with their ...
European countries have different more positive outlooks on sex.
Letter to the editor: Kivett
Students would be better off with formal sex education rather than graphic ...
Who's not having it
Many students choose to remain abstinent for differing reasons.
Stangler: Education policy needs revision
Bush's No Child Left Behind will be examined in the upcoming federal ...
Let's talk about sex, baby, and not ...
Asexuality is an often overlooked sexual orientation.
Center promotes sex and alcohol safety
Event held to educate students on how to increase personal safety while ...
Delta Force focuses on sexual health, sustainability
The group will be putting all their effort into informing students about ...
Thornbrugh: Textbooks ignore women’s triumphs
History should not favor one sex over the other.
Johnson: Abstinence not a lost cause
Despite the pressures that advertisements, the Internet, music and television place on ...
Students decide sex can wait
Religion and finding that special someone are some of the reasons young ...
Editorial: Calling the race early
Coverage of the 2008 presidential race often looks at the noteriety of ...
Choosing Abstinence
Despite pressure from the outside world, students uphold their decision to remain ...
Oliveria: Brazil's AIDS policy works
The government recently forced Merck to allow mass production of the anti-AIDS ...
February Sisters’ 40th anniversary of their famous ...
A group of 30 women protested for women’s rights and started the ...
Free: Pregnancy issues the problem, not abortion
Where people stand on the contentious issue is not as important as ...
Students learn self-defense tactics
TAKE program teaches protective skills for worst-case scenario attacks.
Exposed
My boyfriend during freshman year had 100 gigabytes of pornography on his ...
Hawk Topics
Raine Reviews: News You Can Use
Wellness fair hosted at Anschutz Library
Student Health Services provides materials to help students have a healthy path ...
Letter: Why is sex no longer a ...
Editorial: HPV vaccine is important for both ...
By being vaccinated, men and women can help prevent the most common ...
Editorial: Votes need to count
Turnout in student elections remains low. Rather than ignoring the result, Student ...
Free: Make sure it does get better ...
Progressive Perspective takes a look at the difficulties facing gay teenagers and ...
Over-the-counter "morning after pill" could decrease sexual ...
Bisexuals face additional challenges
Students struggle for acceptance in LGBT communities.
From left: Kimberlee Hinkle, Libby Johnson and Hannah ...
1 comment
Kansas Jayhawk fans hold aloft a reproduction of ...
2 comments
Erin Saupe, a Ph.D. student from St. Cloud, ...
1 comment
0 comments
Armed robbers continue to threaten.
3 comments
Lecture from Greg Mortenson, co-author of New York ...
0 comments
Comments
Editorial: Abstinence failing as sex education tool
Any chance you could make your article a little interesting? More boring than a CBO report. Quite a feat.
Editorial: Abstinence failing as sex education tool
MORE boring? Have you ever read a CBO report? Perhaps it is AS boring, but more? I applaud your hyperbole, and I anxiously await your dynamic, enlightening, and enthralling letter to the editor on the same subject.
Sign in to comment
Or login with:
OpenID