After reading Katrina Freund’s blog post, GOP doesn’t stand for Giving Out Protection, I completely agree that abstinence based education in schools is just not working in today’s schools and youth. Most teenagers are sexually active and do not wait until marriage to have sex. It doesn’t make any sense to be teaching something that isn’t relevant to teenager’s lives. Abstinence is the only 100% way to not get pregnant but it doesn’t mean that kids are going to stay abstinent. With almost half of high school students having sex, I think that the focus should be on teaching sex education that provides sufficient information about contraceptives and safe sex. This blog post provided a lot of interesting facts and I agree that a teenager being sexually active isn’t something that just became popular. With abstinence-only education not working, I think it is time for politicians, especially the Republican Party, to realize it’s time for real sex education to be taught.
This blog post reminded me of an article I read in the Huffington Post earlier today, Rick Perry Asked Why More Kids Are Getting Pregnant in Texas. This article revealed that Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the country. Texas lawmakers had cut sex education from two six-month courses to a single course on abstinence only. The article also revealed that by 2009, 94% of schools in Texas were not teaching any kind of sex education besides abstinence only. In different Texas school districts, students were being handed information that used fear tactics and Jesus, not facts. Students are being taught that the Bible says premarital sex is immoral and condemned. I do not see how trying to scare students with the idea that if you have sex you’re going to go to hell or get an STD is helpful. Students should be taught the facts about sex and how to practice safe sex. Texas teenagers also find it really hard to get contraceptives and sometimes even need parental consent. Even when Governor Perry was provided with the statistics of teen pregnancies in Texas, he still said that abstinence works and thinks that it is still the best way to teach children. He completely ignored the facts that show that abstinence is obviously not working in Texas and throughout the United States. I understand he is a very religious and conservative politician but his decisions affect the lives of millions of children. He shouldn’t be basing his policies for one of the most populated states in the country around his religious and personal beliefs when it is harming teenagers' health and overall life.
This blog post reminded me of an article I read in the Huffington Post earlier today, Rick Perry Asked Why More Kids Are Getting Pregnant in Texas. This article revealed that Texas had the highest teen birth rate in the country. Texas lawmakers had cut sex education from two six-month courses to a single course on abstinence only. The article also revealed that by 2009, 94% of schools in Texas were not teaching any kind of sex education besides abstinence only. In different Texas school districts, students were being handed information that used fear tactics and Jesus, not facts. Students are being taught that the Bible says premarital sex is immoral and condemned. I do not see how trying to scare students with the idea that if you have sex you’re going to go to hell or get an STD is helpful. Students should be taught the facts about sex and how to practice safe sex. Texas teenagers also find it really hard to get contraceptives and sometimes even need parental consent. Even when Governor Perry was provided with the statistics of teen pregnancies in Texas, he still said that abstinence works and thinks that it is still the best way to teach children. He completely ignored the facts that show that abstinence is obviously not working in Texas and throughout the United States. I understand he is a very religious and conservative politician but his decisions affect the lives of millions of children. He shouldn’t be basing his policies for one of the most populated states in the country around his religious and personal beliefs when it is harming teenagers' health and overall life.
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