Is abstinence the only way to keep yourself from pregnancy and any number of VDs? Most certainly.
The problem comes in the nature of kids. We can lay down all the rules we want, but many of them are going to break them at some point. Students are going to have sex. If not in high school, then in college. Not all of them, sure, but enough of them. The way I see it, we can send them out into the probability of having sex without any idea how to protect themselves or they can go with that knowledge so that when they do have sex, they'll be safe.
Many people have said that sex education and contraception will only inspire them to have more sex, but really, they're going to have sex either way. They can either be educated and safe or un-educated and more vulnerable to pregnancy and disease.
Where I went to school, we were told that abstinence is %100 effective while being told how to use protection. They placed emphasis on the importance of being smart with our sexual decisions, the importance of condom-use and the importance of getting tested as well as being honest with your sexual partner.
It's not been my experience that anyone left class thinking, "Wow, this is so great! I'm going to go be the town bicycle!" It's been my experience that people left with the knowledge they needed to engage in healthy sexual practices.
There are those that will wait till marriage, but there are far too many who won't, regardless of being told to wait or not, for our country to not educate them about protection. I'd say that it's unethical to leave students un-aware and under-educated of these highly important things. We can't just assume that everyone, or even most people, will be abstinent just because they're told to. And we can't deny that many kids are going to have pre-marital relations. Telling them how to be safe doesn't endorse pre-marital sex. It simply equips them for when do have sex.
To wit: I've always always used a condom and I get tested. I'm clean. And I owe that to the quality education I had.
MoonLancer said it more succinctly than I:
The problem comes in the nature of kids. We can lay down all the rules we want, but many of them are going to break them at some point. Students are going to have sex. If not in high school, then in college. Not all of them, sure, but enough of them. The way I see it, we can send them out into the probability of having sex without any idea how to protect themselves or they can go with that knowledge so that when they do have sex, they'll be safe.
Many people have said that sex education and contraception will only inspire them to have more sex, but really, they're going to have sex either way. They can either be educated and safe or un-educated and more vulnerable to pregnancy and disease.
Where I went to school, we were told that abstinence is %100 effective while being told how to use protection. They placed emphasis on the importance of being smart with our sexual decisions, the importance of condom-use and the importance of getting tested as well as being honest with your sexual partner.
It's not been my experience that anyone left class thinking, "Wow, this is so great! I'm going to go be the town bicycle!" It's been my experience that people left with the knowledge they needed to engage in healthy sexual practices.
There are those that will wait till marriage, but there are far too many who won't, regardless of being told to wait or not, for our country to not educate them about protection. I'd say that it's unethical to leave students un-aware and under-educated of these highly important things. We can't just assume that everyone, or even most people, will be abstinent just because they're told to. And we can't deny that many kids are going to have pre-marital relations. Telling them how to be safe doesn't endorse pre-marital sex. It simply equips them for when do have sex.
To wit: I've always always used a condom and I get tested. I'm clean. And I owe that to the quality education I had.
MoonLancer said it more succinctly than I:
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