Friday, February 23, 2007

Safe Sex in School

One of the main problems that society talks about in today's world is the rising problem of AIDS/HIV and STD's, especially the rising teen pregnancy rates. How do we solve such problems? If we could stop teen pregnancy children could focus more on schoolwork and and be forced into an early life of poverty. One of the main reasons for a household being driven into poverty is teen pregnancy. This causes single mothers in many cases, because the father is unwilling to face the consequences of their actions. In world that we live in today, many people don't want to hear what they should or should not do. They would much rather to continue doing what makes them feel best and hurts others least. This problem of teen pregnancy could be solved or at least greatly diminished if the public school system would focus less on safe sex and focus more on abstinence.
One main argument for the teaching of safe sex in schools reasons that kids are goig to have sex anyways, so we might as well teach them things that will prevent pregnancies. What has been the result of this? Teen pregnancies have risen in the past few decades and more pregnant teenagers and more fatherless children are born into this world. By giving up hope on the students and just telling them, "just be safe about it," the public school system has promoted sex and inflammed the problem to a greater degree. I mean not to push religious beliefs in this argument, because if I did, many pay no mind. If the school systems truly want to prevent teen pregnancies, they should promote abstinence. After all it is the safest sex--no sex. There is 0% rate of teen pregnancy, and it is 100% effective in preventing STD's and AIDS/HIV virus. In my opinion this teaching of abstinence would teach a greater respect for women amongst the boys. This greater respect for women would result in less abuse towards women, because the men are not always thinking of who the next girl should be.
Some may say, "This is far fetched." Some may say, "Just let them do what they want to do." Some many even say, "It's their right to do what they want with their bodies." These opinions do reflect many of the sentiments and feelings about this subject in the world today. Although I will point to how the promotion of safe sex has led to greater promiscuity and greater teen pregnancy. Public Schools have a power of influence that they may or may not realize. After all, with the promotion of safe sex they have taught the students to believe they can do what they want as long as they keep it "safe." Maybe if they promoted abstinence and wait for marriage, they could teach students greater respect for women and higher set of standards. We can solve the problems of high teen pregnancies by teaching abstinence in the schools. We can slow the spread of poverty by giving the kids not only knowledge, but also values. We can lower the STD's and AIDS/HIV virus by teaching abstinence in the schools.

1 comment:

Associate Professor of Education, Luther College said...

Hello Aaron,

Have the teen pregnancy rates risen in the last 5 or 6 years? I had understood that they were actually down most recently but I am not completely sure my information is correct. Has an abstinence approach to sex education been effective where it has been taught? This might be a good topic for a research paper that would include more information and reearch.

Thanks for your ideas on this topic.

Dr. Langholz