Sex Ed - Do Christians want to keep their kids ignorant?

Joykins · Mar 20, 2006

Oooh, I found it!

The stats quoted in the article are of course misleading...I should know better by now, journalists rarely understand these studies well, or if they do they don't convey it well.

Although pledgers tend to have sex later than nonpledgers and tend to get married earlier than nonpledgers, most pledgers do not wait to get married before having first sex. If we consider just those respondents who have had sex, 88% of the pledgers have sex (here again, vaginal intercourse) before they get married, whereas 99% of the nonpledgers have sex before marriage. Inconsistent pledgers 94%) are in between, as expected. Of all respondents, not conditioning on having had sex, the pattern is roughly similar. Specifically, 61% of all pledgers, 90% of all nonpledgers, and 79% of all inconsistent pledgers have sex before marriage or interview date.

http://www.iserp.columbia.edu/people/downloads/after_the_promise.pdf

ETA: the target group studied was a 3rd wave of a national longitudinal study of adolescent health. The 3rd wave was for 18-24 year olds, but earlier interviews were held with the same people. See the article for details.

gengwall · Mar 20, 2006

Thanks for the follow up. The statistics still illustrate a problem with abstinence only ed even with the clarification on the study group. Abstinence should be encouraged in ciriculum but it should be TAUGHT at home. Sen. Clinton gets it right here in her speech on the eve of the Roe anviersary this year.

Research shows that the primary reason that teenage girls abstain is because of their religious and moral values. We should embrace this -- and support programs that reinforce the idea that abstinence at a young age is not just the smart thing to do, it is the right thing to do. But we should also recognize what works and what doesn't work, and to be fair, the jury is still out on the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs. I don't think this debate should be about ideology, it should be about facts and evidence -- we have to deal with the choices young people make not just the choice we wish they would make. We should use all the resources at our disposal to ensure that teens are getting the information they need to make the right decision.

We should also do more to educate and involve parents about the critical role they can play in encouraging their children to abstain from sexual activity. Teenagers who have strong emotional attachments to their parents are much less likely to become sexually active at an early age.

Romanseight2005 · Mar 21, 2006

gengwall said:
OK, I'm sick of getting pummeled by liberals who claim conservative Christians don't want their kids to have accurate information about sex ed and family planning. So, here is a multipart question to discuss. When you learned about sex ed, where did the best (most accurate, greatest volume) infromation come from, the school sex ed program or your parent(s)? And what do you plan on disseminating to your kids vs. what you plan on leaving up to the schools? In particular, did your parent(s) discuss with you and do you plan on/have you discussed with your kids contraception, pregnancy, and abortion (which apparently are pre-requisites for liberals to consider any sex ed "accurate"). Thanks for any insights.

[Edit - don't be intimidated by the post count. We are not debating here so it is not essential to read through everything. Just let us know your experiences and plans.]

Well, we plan on letting him know unabashedly anything he wants to know about. We have already established open communication with him when he has questions about anything. As far as the details of those discussions, right now we are paving the way to showing him that God creates all life in the womb, (that already sets the stage for abortion topics) We also let him know that marriage is God's design, and that marriage is the only place for that special attraction to the other sex to be acted upon. As he gets a bit older, and has questions, the details of these things will be discussed. We pray that he will desire to be pure. We show him biblical examples like Joseph running from Potiphar's wife. He doesn't understand the reality of that now, but later it will speak to him. Many of the issues you are talking about are really addressed in scripture. So, if you read the bible together, he will get much of the instruction needed, then the details can be answered when he has questions.

gengwall · Mar 21, 2006

Romanseight2005 said:
Well, we plan on letting him know unabashedly anything he wants to know about. We have already established open communication with him when he has questions about anything. As far as the details of those discussions, right now we are paving the way to showing him that God creates all life in the womb, (that already sets the stage for abortion topics) We also let him know that marriage is God's design, and that marriage is the only place for that special attraction to the other sex to be acted upon. As he gets a bit older, and has questions, the details of these things will be discussed. We pray that he will desire to be pure. We show him biblical examples like Joseph running from Potiphar's wife. He doesn't understand the reality of that now, but later it will speak to him. Many of the issues you are talking about are really addressed in scripture. So, if you read the bible together, he will get much of the instruction needed, then the details can be answered when he has questions.

Very cool.

Romanseight2005 · Mar 21, 2006

gengwall said:
Very cool.

Thanks!

icbeckyc · Mar 21, 2006

Well my oldest is 14. When she was about to enter the 3rd grade she wanted to know where babies come from. I tried to give her the basics and end it, figuring it would make her happy, but she kept asking more specific questions and I realized there was no way around getting to the point. I told her I had to think about it a bit since I know how to talk to adults about sex but I didn't quite know how to explain it to someone her age and make any sense. This bought me about 6 months then she came to me and asked if I had been reading. lol We had several family members that were pregnant, she had a little sister and was always in awe of how she came out, and also several pregant friends. So I gave her the whole story and she was fine with it. So we have talked on an off about girl stuff and changes girls go through and sex and what I as a parent and God expects of us. So she knew it all before the girl movie in 4th grade.

I always wished our school distrcit did the girl movie like my friends. They have a mother daughter tea and they all view the movie together and discuss it.

My youngest has asked a few questions right before she had to see the movie in 4th grade. She is not impressed and doesn't want to talk about it at all. Now I have talked more about having her period and what to look for and where things are in the house. The last time we started talking about sex, I think she kinda figured it out and didn't want to hear another word. Thought it was too gross. lol I told her its really not, but when she is ready we can talk more. So I am sure she will be wanting to her more shortly or I will go over it soon, since next year they learn about reproduction in Science class.

This is exactly why it needs to be handled at home. Not all kids are ready for the whole thing at the same time and some need to hear bits at a time, not all at once. I have no problem with reproduction in science, but I think it can wait till high school. That gives some of less mature ones more time to catch up and become more ready to hear the whole study.

Sex Ed - Do Christians want to keep their kids ignorant?

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