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State monitors sex education |
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Thursday, 08 November 2007 |
by BRANDON BROWN
Lifestyles Reporter
Everyone remembers those awkward high school sex education classes.
The instructor would say ‘penis’ and adolescents would succumb to their raging hormones, leading to an uproar of laughter.
Abstinence is taught as the main platform of sex education in almost every public school district in the country, said Dr. Terri Mitchell, a health education professor at Appalachian State.
Upon entering college, students are exposed to a different level of maturity, and a number of sex education resources.
Places like the Wellness Center and Student Health Services offer peer
educator programs that enlighten students on preventing Sexually
Transmitted Infections (STIs) and unwanted pregnancies.
“If people want to talk about abstinence, we are supportive of that,”
said Kit B. Olson, coordinator of wellness programming. “If people
want to talk about condoms and pregnancy prevention, we are willing to
talk about that, too.”
The willingness to discuss sexual activity contrasts the view of sexual education in public high schools.
“A few years ago, there was more emphasis on condoms [and protection],”
said Olson. “[Lately], there has been an abstinence movement in public
schools.”
North Carolina supports “Abstinence Until Marriage” legislation, and
only states that abide by federal guidelines regarding abstinence
receive federal funding for sexual education, Mitchell said.
Leigh C. Wallace is a health and living teacher at Watauga High School, where her curriculum is monitored by the state.
Wallace said the school board mandates that health classes teach
primarily abstinence and its benefits but instructors have the option
of teaching about contraception.
Wallace is told to ensure that students are aware of the differences
between risk reduction, with condoms and contraceptives, and risk
elimination, which is achieved by abstinence.
The curriculum also instructs the health teachers to make sure
“students understand that a mutually faithful, monogamous, heterosexual
relationship – in the context of marriage – is the best life-long means
of preventing [the transmission] of disease,” Wallace said.
Since 1996, the federal government has spent more than $1 billion on
abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, according to the American
Civil Liberties Union.
No federal funding exists for comprehensive sex education in public schools.
The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act has been introduced in
the U.S. House of Representatives and proposes age appropriate sex
education in schools.
Wallace doesn’t believe in using scare tactics in her classes, such as
images of ghastly diseases, because students might view the subject as
a problem for “freaks” and not something that could happen to anyone.
“The best thing I can do is talk to them about [sex safety],” said
Wallace. “These are things they maybe don’t hear at home. Ultimately,
it’s their decision and I’m only helping to give them good
decision-making skills.”
Mitchell believes “Abstinence Until Marriage” instruction is ineffective.
“I would like to see a better job of sexuality education and
instruction in general,” said Mitchell. “[An improvement can be]
achieved through medically accurate information, sequential development
of content and skills and an emphasis on risk reduction.”
A committee in the House of Representatives found that over 80 percent
of curricula supported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services contained false or distorted information about reproductive
health.
Specifically, the committee found the curricula to contain false
information about the effectiveness of contraceptives, the risks of
abortion and that religious beliefs were often passed as scientific
fact.
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