A recent survey that found some Florida teens believe drinking a cap of bleach will prevent HIV and a shot of Mountain Dew will stop pregnancy has prompted lawmakers to push for an overhaul of sex education in the state. The survey showed that Florida teens also believe that smoking marijuana will prevent a person from getting pregnant.
Somehow, I’m not surprised that this story comes from Floriduh, home to some of the strangest, most convoluted (allegedly) Christ-centric ideology to be found anywhere in this great land. In a state where most of the public school curriculum seems to be drawn from Revelations, should we even be surprised that Florida’s children seem to be growing up without even a rudimentary grasp of human sexuality and reproduction?
That this situation even exists to begin with is criminal. Florida parents and educators should be ashamed of themselves for tolerating an education that not only produces, but apparently also condones the sort of stunning ignorance. You’d think that someone would be held accountable for tolerating an “education” system that’s unwilling to adequately and accurately address basic human sexuality in a way that would arm children with enough accurate information to allow them to make sound decisions. If children grow up thinking that you can get HIV/AIDS from door knobs or toilet seats, how can we expect them to make sensible, intelligent decisions about sex and sexuality.
Then again, if all you really need to do to avoid getting pregnant is to take a few hits of prime Colombian ditchweed, what else do you need to know? Condoms? Safe sex? Nah…you’ll be too high…which can only mean that you’re safe…right?
