How About Some REAL Sex Education Now?
From a New York Times article entitled Teenage Birth Rate Rises for First Time Since ’91, in which abstinence-only programs are criticized (rightly, IMHO), comes this hilarious quote:
Robert Rector, a senior research fellow with the Heritage Foundation, said that blaming abstinence-only programs was “stupid.” Mr. Rector said that most young women who became pregnant were highly educated about contraceptives but wanted to have babies.
I find it hard to believe that these young women were "highly educated" about anything, including contraceptives, but especially about how difficult it is to raise a child. Mr. Rector seems to agree with me when he says, later in the article:
Mr. Rector of the Heritage Foundation said that teenage and unmarried birth rates were driven by the same factors: young women with little education who are devoted to mothering but see no great need to be married.
So these women are highly educated about contraceptives but poorly educated in every other way. I can buy the latter, but as I said, not the former.
I had sex education in fifth grade. Real sex education. I don't think I ever participated in one of the classes where you had to carry a sack of flour around everywhere or keep an egg healthy and whole for a week, but I remember watching others do it, and just watching was educational. It was the kind of assignment everyone talked about, not just those doing it.
We need to educate kids about STDs, pregnancy, and the impact on their lives of having a child young. Telling them to say "no" is not enough. I'm not sure what Mr. Rector wants to tell them will do the trick either, frankly.
“We should be telling them that for the well-being of any child, it’s critically important that you be over the age of 20 and that you be married,” he said. “That message is not given at all.”
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Comments (6)
*I* blame abstinence only programs, because they are supplanting programs which provide useful information.
For the well-being of any child, it's critically important that you not be an idiot. Having a child while still a child yourself is idiotic.
And Robert Rector sounds like an idiot. I don't think he should procreate, either.
Posted by ratphooey![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.avocado8.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
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December 6, 2007 3:37 PM
Posted on December 6, 2007 15:37
I'm absolutely not being ironic when I say Amen, Lori and Shani.
Posted by Daddy Sherpa | December 7, 2007 9:28 AM
Posted on December 7, 2007 09:28
oops, the comment above was supposed to be from me!
Posted by juliloquy | December 7, 2007 10:54 AM
Posted on December 7, 2007 10:54
This guy believes what is critically important here is that a woman be 20+ AND married before having children? Ummm...so, being allowed to legally drink alcohol and have a loveless marriage is still better for a child's well-being? Bravo, Mr. Rector!
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December 7, 2007 11:51 AM
Posted on December 7, 2007 11:51
I had a sex ed class in 5th grade too. But I do wish we'd had to pretend to take care of a baby. I think that might have helped some people out.
I saw getting pregnant as an impediment to going to college and starting my career. Not that a child needs to be excluded from that scenario (my cousin found out she was pregnant at 21 and finished her degree while mothering a baby), but it certainly doesn't make it any easier to achieve those goals.
I also thought I needed to gain some maturity before taking such a huge step.
How do we instill that in young girls? Especially ones who are often in circumstances that don't inspire them to aim for more? Definitely not by telling them to just say no.
Posted by lori | December 9, 2007 4:29 PM
Posted on December 9, 2007 16:29
Oh so that explains it all! There are all of these teenagers out there who really wanted babies but didn't want to get married and so they had them anyway. Duh! I feel so much more enlightened now. And hell, had I known I could start having babies at 20 I would have done it long ago. I suppose I'm missing out.
Posted by Heather B. | December 11, 2007 10:01 AM
Posted on December 11, 2007 10:01