Sex ed is the responsibility of the parents, Not the government or the government run schools. The ONLY impact the government should have, is to ensure that contraception is freely available to those who desire it.

The government isn't capable of doing it right, and it shouldn't be doing it at all. There are many statistics showing the failure rate of abstinence only programs. However, you should notice that they don't show the failure rate of OTHER sex ed programs. Why not?

Because it is just as bad, thats why.

I hate to use the "E" word, but the entire concept behind having government run sex ed programs, is two forms of elitist thinking:

The first is "Sure, I'm a good parent, and I know that my kids are going to know what they need to know to avoid unwanted pregnancies and STDs, but everyone else is an idiot and not as enlightened as me, and needs the government to step in to this parental role for them".

The second is "Unwanted pregnancies happen because people didn't know how to prevent them".

Really? Come again? You sure? Do any of you know anyone, boy or girl, above the age of 12 that doesn't know about sex, STDs, unwanted pregnancies, and contraception? I don't, and I live in one of the states with the worst schools in the nation (Florida).

Ok, thats my rant, and I hope you enjoyed it. My next topic will be on "AIDS AWARENESS" programs, and how they find the one or two people in the entire US that don't know about this disease, and why that money would be better spent on researching a cure.

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The issue of sex education stems directly from the religious fanaticism that came with the Pilgrims to the new world. It stems from the idea that sex is not to be something beautiful and intimate between two people, it is supposed to be a tool to produce more church members and soldiers and any other use for it is something to be ashamed of.

My mother got pregnant with my older brother in 1962 while still in High School. There wasn't any organized health education classes that spelled out exactly what caused pregnancy. Even though she was 15, her mother had never told her what caused pregancy either. From their point of view, there was no reason to tell her because it wasn't even a possibility that she would need to know this information until she got married someday.

Well, after a six pack from a 21-yr old at a party, she got the crash course in sex education. When it was confirmed that she was pregnant, she was expelled from school and sent to juvenile detention for seven days. After she had her son, her parents took him away from her citing her age and basically treated her like she was dirt.

If that is the type of parental education that some commentaries are relying on to keep kids up to speed, then it will ultimately end in failure. As long as we continue to deny some of the basic laws of biology, the schemes to control sexual behavior in teenagers will always be laughable in their idiocy.

If we all haven't figured out that it is quite literally impossible to prevent teens from having sex, then we are most likely the winner of the stupidist organism on our planet award. Nature's design (or God's if you swing that way) sets the timing for reproduction while we are young and healthy so that our pathetic species has a better chance of survival.

God or his agents here on Earth, seem to believe that this should be an act of secrecy, something that is done behind two locked doors, with the lights out and with both sets of lips closed as much as possible (yes, a pun was intended).

As long as the Agents continue to believe that sex is something dirty, there is no way in hell any real education programs are going to make any headway, thus leaving teenagers to learn about sex from their friends (especially the hot ones), the internet porn sites (definitely better than the Sears catalog), and from what they hear from their peers.

Parents don't want to believe that little Susy is out on the town banging half the football team, so why would they need to discuss sex with their little angel?

Hmm, perhaps childbirth, syphillis, AIDS, hepatitis, clamadia, genital warts, herpes, and a few others come to mind...and I personally hate it when someone I know leaves a crab or two on the toilet seat...

One day, when the United States finally outgrows its infantile fascination with religious dogma, which some of us love to invoke for every occasion, and recognize that it can NEVER CONTROL the MUCH MORE POWERFUL FORCE OF NATURE'S ENGINES, our young people may actually learn something that will prevent them from becoming premature deaths due to disease.

Of course, even the threat of disease won't stop that banging in the back seat, or the backyard while the parents are in bed, or the bed while the parents are at work, but as the butter commercial stated accurately, "you can't fool mother nature (and you can't fight her either-she is a crafty one and she will always win)"

Therefore the plan must take into account the realities of youthful hormones, horniness and enthusiasm for newfound ways to piss off your parents if they are to ever be effective enough to make a difference.

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my 15 years old stefdaughter in a Thai high school Chiangmai got that day sex education in classroom.

The teacher said;
"Do you realise how much your parents suffer to pay your education????

And after finishing school and meeting the right person to marry your husband has to pay to your parents a dot (equivalent of 6 monthes to a years salary) because they raised you and you are still a virgin.

Is there any girl so bad to loose this treasure for just some lust???

"No, sir teacher" shouted all the gorgious teenagers.

And how about the Islamic cultures???
Having sex without parents consent leads to murder....

Acting against nature is a tactic of the Rich to control the working class.

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Searching for a "cure" for AIDS? While I agree it's the parents responsibility to teach sex education, it is also our responsibility to learn the truth about AIDS: We won't find a "cure" because HIV is a myth. That's right, it's a myth. Just go to http://www.aidsmyth.com and learn why. Remember ALL those with "HIV" who are alive have never (or seldom) had anti-retroviral treatments. Most who are dead, well have! That's right!--the treatment (and neglect of simple nutrition concepts) are the primary cause of most of the deaths. This is a fact that several books on the subject have taught me. (Start with the AIDS myth, by Peter Deusberg), Arthur Ashe was warned about this fact by one famous nutritionist in NYC, but he didnt want to disappoint his doctor, so continued with his deadly treatments. There won't be a "cure" for AIDS, because there's too much money being made on the treatment. Think that so-called SMONS epidemic in Japan from 1958-1973; killed thousands and it turned out the DRUG used to treat the 'disease' (an intestinal disorder), was the cause of the deaths! Have "AIDS" and want to live? Avoid the treatment and use alternative methods to enhance your immune system. Tom, http://tompetrie.net

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The Right/Conservative movement has learned a powerful trick to scam the middle/lower class "values voters." That trick is to create the illusion that they have have considerable power in Republican administrations by handing over entire policy matters like sex ed that the ruling corporate elites and plutocrats honestly couldn't care less about. As long as they get their tax cuts and corporate cronyism/socialism...these conned voters are free to run sex ed as they please...regardless of the consequences.

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How many of you folks got a solid explanation of sex and sexuality, an understandable biology instruction on the functions of organs, hormones, cycles, zygotes, implantation, etc from their parents? If you *are* a parent, how well could you explain the systems to your kids? Without a solid understanding, mistakes will be made, information will be gleaned from peers and sometimes made up on the spot by passionate, hormone-surging kids.

Sushi
"Education is the comb life hands you after you have gone bald."

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With such draconian moves to withhold sex education from teens, it will be a mere nanosecond before the teen pregnancy rate begins to soar once again, as it did in the 70s. Having worked in reproductive rights and seen the other side of failing our young women, this is a tragedy. It cannot be left to parents to often don't have the language, skills, or knowledge to accurately impart to their girls AND boys.

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I absolutely agree with what you said in your article. As someone who has worked in women's healthcare, I couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you.

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I have read so many articles about this administration's bending over so religious zealots were put into positions of power within the various departments regulating what goes on in schools and the religious nutters were the ones pushing this anti sex ed programs.

THEN they lied about the results claiming they were overwhelming success when real studies showed just the opposite.

HOW can anyone vote republican is beyond me. It is the party of lies and exclusion and in particular the part of regression.

The party of power through fear.

WHAT is wrong with people who vote republican?

Is it a mental illness?

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Theres been an article on alternet every week for almost the past month on sex ed in schools

We get it already! Abstinince only sex ed sucks! (so does regular sex ed, but I'm sick of arguing that.)

Can we please, move on to a different topic?

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The elitist right has an interest in keeping its citizenry ignorant about a lot of things to facilitate their control of the masses. Ab-only results in early parenthood, truncated education and a higher birthrate overall, leading to cheap labor and guaranteed conflict when they start crowding each other and competing for scarce resources.

Their favorite method of population control is to let natural disasters like Katrina, earthquakes, etc. and armed conflict cull the weak, sick and elderly. Those remaining can be trafficked into sweat shops, the sex trade, stoop labor and drafted into the military.

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It's true. There has never been a case of a person contracting a STD who was not engageing in any of the risk behaviors. And in all of history there has only been one case of a virgin getting pregnant without sex.

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Interesting fact.

Mexico does a LOT to educate people of various ages, not just public schools.

For example, TV characters on soap operas use protection!

Here, the Catholic church sanctuary movement which does so much to welcome illegal immigrants also forbids birth control . Almost as if they have an agenda - overturning Roe Wade at the ballot, while advocating for amnesty.

It is a shame that we have passed the tipping point on population, global warming, and food and water resources.Large families have a lovely way of loving and looking out for one another. Praising Mexican children, George Bernard Shaw once said that all the world's children should be required to be Mexican.

The trick must be for us to be neighborly, without producing our own broods.

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people from forming a group to advertise and educate kids on your own with your time and resources.

alternet and these other liberal sites have to making money off the ads they run. put up or shut up.

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Your headline shocked me, as it intimated you'd written about the need of birth control to keep Mexicans from sending their overpopulation problems north. Thankfully, you wrote about the misguided (and no doubt faith-based) program to "just say no" which didn't work against drug use, as Nancy found out, and won't work (and in fact isn't working) to prevent unwanted pregnancies and STD's among minors at home. You see what happens when we allow these religious nuts to run roughshod over matters that ought to be left up to individuals, families, and states.

Mexico, however, is doing quite well, thank you. Their chamber of deputies even seems a lot more progressive at times than our own pols in D.C. Members even tried to legalize drug use (or at least decriminalize many drugs, including pot), but pressure from the U.S. caused the legislation to fail. Look what the Mexicans have on their hands as a result: an all-out war on drugs that has killed thousands on both sides of the law, especially on the border.

Wake up, people: narcotrafficking would cease if some drugs were legalized, regulated and taxed like alcohol, the profits used to finance treatment programs, anti-drug commercials, and other sensible, secular ways to deal with the problem.

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Sue Kats doesn't make any further explanation of what she means by Outsuourcing her prejudices to Mexico and most important WHY?

Could any one explain me that?

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Sadly, Arlene has it right. Mother Nature via natural disasters culls out life here and there. With the neglect of the ruling class-- who decide who gets emergency aid--the "culling" progresses, thank you very much. Observe Katrina, droughts in Africa, and abnormal heat waves in Europe a few summmers ago.
The real evil is the culling for profit by the ruling class of the spiritually weak and stupid who fall for words and ideologies and "patriotic games." Easily and cynically, the ruling class invoke the word "courage" and those who _lack authentic courage_ (and/or the emotional wherewithal) to say "no" join Johnny and march away to the killing fields and kill and die in our names.
And the profits roll in. So, if a nation breeds too many citizens thanks to its religious fanatics who don't believe in population control, the profiteers will assist mother nature in the winnowing process. For a profit. Ain't wars grand?

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