When Obama decided not to renew the Title V grant program that funds abstinence-only sex education programs in his 2010 budget, places like McLennan County in Texas found their coffers, already depleted when their $800,000 grant ran out in 2007, dwindle from $1 million to zero.
Since 1997, $1.9 billion in government funding ($1.5 billion of it federal money) has gone to abstinence-only education, turning it into an industry unto itself. Although the Senate Finance Committee voted to restore the funding 12-11 last month, the measure needs to pass the full Congress, which is unlikely. At this point, it looks like private donors will have to cough up the funding if these programs want to survive.
Abstinence ed flourished in the late '90s and early 2000s and federal funding doubled from $80 million in 2001 to $200 million during the Bush years in spite of research that showed sexual behavior didn't change among those who had received the education.
So what's the future of abstinence-only education? Its advocates like Director Tracy Cousins of the McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Program (MCCAP) in Texas considered tweaking their programs in order to get some funding. But they decided in the end that showing students, for example, how to put a condom on compromised their message of abstinence only. "We believe," says Tracy Cousins,"the best approach [for students] is they should not engage in sexual activity."
Conran
APC
Farfetch
"We believe," says Tracy Cousins,"the best approach [for students] is they should not engage in sexual activity."
Yes, I think most people agree with this (even those who are for an all inclusive sex ed program in schools), however, we also know that students don't always do what is best for them. Which is why knowledge is power and educating them on the consequences (positive & negative) of having sex is important, rather than teaching them to bury their heads in the sand.
1Well, Tracy, you can wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one gets filled first.
2this program shouldnt be taught in schools, if you want this for your kids YOU should teach it, not the government.
3LOL fuzzles
and very well said CG -- you are able to believe and teach what you want, but it shouldn't be government-provided if its incomplete education
4Pointless programs just wasting money. People in GENERAL don't listen to whats best for them, much less teenagers pumped full of hormones and the urge to experiment and rebel. Blacklisting anything is a bad idea, a very bad idea. Hopefully they get education about stds, safe sex, and pregnancy. When I watched a very graphic video of a live birth in the 7th grade, it was incredibly shocking and very much a reminder to exercise caution and protection. i think they should have those giant posters like at the dentist with pictures of rotted teeth and the such, just of stds and things... lol. A four foot tall picture of chlamydia or genital warts symptoms would be pretty compelling.
5Haha, fuzzles, I agree!
6That's great, CG, except when the parents don't give a siht. I wonder how many parents (who became so at age 14, by the way), sat down and had a talk with their children about the physical and emotional consequences of sex.
7Forgot to add that just yesterday I saw a young girl - maybe 16 - pushing a baby stroller .. while very pregnant. Broke my heart.
Unfortunantly, from what I've seen, many parents in Baltimore city are not sitting down and talking sex with their kids. School may be the only place for it.
8running - I'm pretty sure CG actually agree ... I read her answer as saying that if parents want abstinence, educate them on that at home; at school they'll receive a full education.
Which is absolutely the right decision - abstinence IS a good idea, but for many people it's not the idea they're going to choose. Encourage abstinence, yes - but not to the exclusion of education about safe sex practices.
9*you and CG
10I think that abstinence education is a waste of time. When I learned "just say no to sex" in school, I didn't know what they were talking about and made it seem like all guys were big jerks who only wanted to beat their girlfriends. I didn't really realize it meant you weren't supposed to have sex.
I think schools have a responsibility to teach kids how to use condoms, and that parents should be the ones teaching about abstinence if that's what they want their kids to learn. That way, the kids get the education they should have, and get their personal morals enforced by their parents, not the government. And it takes the whole "parents who don't give a crap" problem out of the equation.
11Abstinence can be gotten rid of by persuasion, therefore it doe not work.
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