Is Sex Education Really Educating the Youth?
Officials cite abstinence only sex education not conducive in keep young students STD free.
By Sasha Lester
Abstinence-Only Not Working
Sex education programs at middle schools and high schools are meant to educate youth on the important of using protection and the consequences that can occur if you choose to have sex unprotected.
Some counties have turned to ‘Abstinence Only’ sex education programs that stress the importance of remaining abstinent until marriage to avoid any sexually transmitted diseases or unwanted pregnancies.
Associate Professor at VCU’s School of Medicine, Dr. May Kennedy, says that some programs work better than others.
“The abstinence-only programs don’t meet the highest standard of effectiveness,” said Kennedy.
Kennedy says that some web sites like www.cdc.gov show examples of effective programs through the organizations research.
“There have been careful reviews of science-based programs that work to prevent unprotected teen sex, and those are the programs that I think schools should adopt,” said Kennedy.
According to the Virginia Administrative Code, who let local school boards determine which type of sex education they prefer to teach in their schools. However, the Virginia state board is responsible for setting guidelines and standards for sex education curriculum for kindergarten through 12th grade.
The VAC also allows parents an ‘opt-out’ policy that enables them the choice of not having their children participate in the program. If a parent chooses to opt-out, he is also required to justify why they decided to do so.
According to the Advocates for Youth Web site, Virginia doesn’t require sexual education even though 120,000 youth in Virginia are sexually active. Both Advocates for Youth and VAC show that there is no Virginia law that mandates sex education in schools.
Dr. Rick Zimmerman is a professor in VCU’s Department of Social Behavior and Health and says that he was shocked at number of reported cases among young students but thinks it goes beyond sex education.
“This is surprising. But the most likely reason has to do with regular partnerships/boyfriends/girlfriends thus fewer sexual partners for the 20-29 year old age group,” said Zimmerman.
Truth in Numbers
The Virginia Health Department released the 2008 ‘Reported Chlamydia, Gonorrhea and Total Early Syphilis (TES)’ data for all Virginia counties. The data was collected and sorted into different categories, and the results were found in the data sorted by age of person with reported STD’s.
Westmoreland, Fredericksburg, Wythe, New Kent and Gloucester counties had 2 or more 15-19 year olds with gonorrhea than 20-29 year olds. Westmoreland County had 7 more cases of gonorrhea among 15-19 year olds than 20-29 year olds.
Russell, Lancaster, Page, Appomattox and Lunenburg counties had 3 or more 15-19 year olds with chlamydia than 20-29 year olds. Russell County had 6 cases of chlamydia among 15-19 year olds and only 1 reported case among 20-29.
The Eastern region of Virginia had 4,010 reported cases of chlamydia among 15-19 year olds which was more than any other region in Virginia. The Eastern region also had the highest number of reported cases of gonorrhea among the same age group.
The Eastern region consists of counties that stretch from the Norfolk area to Tidewater. Lancaster County had 24 cases of chlamydia among 15-19 and only 20 cases among 20-29.
In October 2007, Governor Tim Kaine released the state’s 2008 Fiscal Year Budget and said that Virginia would not be applying for federal money that would be used for ‘abstinence only until marriage’ sex education program.
Kaine said, “Eliminate general funding match for federal Abstinence Grant…Formal program evaluations at the federal level have indicated that this particular program is no more effective than any other birth control education effort.”
Efforts were made by the governor to enforce sex education that doesn’t educate youth on ‘just saying no’. However, there are still high numbers of young adults being contracted with sexually transmitted diseases each year.
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Here is a visualization of the data created through Many Eyes!
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REFERENCES
Advocates for Youth. “Virginia Report Card”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.advocatesforyouth.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1048&Itemid=629
Amplify. “Amplify Report Card: Virginia”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/main.cfm?s=amplify&actionId=globalShowStaticContent&screenKey=cmpState&htmlKey=stateVirginia
Craig, Tim. The Washington Post, “Abstinence-Only Sex Ed Funds Cut Off by Kaine”. November 13, 2007. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/11/12/AR2007111201716.html
Virginia Department of Health. “Chlamydia, Gonorrhea, Syphyllis data”. Retrieved November 8, 2009 from http://www.vdh.state.va.us/epidemiology/DiseasePrevention/DAta/
