July 17, 2008 7:22 PM

Yes, but is our children learning that sex is dirty and nasty??

AUSTIN - Texas spent a nation-high $17 million last year for abstinence education programs that continue to stir debate about whether classes promoting virginity before marriage work in public schools. Federal statistics in June showed that 52.9 percent of Texas students in ninth through 12th grades had sexual intercourse, compared with 47.8 nationally. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also reported that Texas youths are less likely to use condoms. Public schools in Texas are not required to offer sex education, but those that do must make the lessons abstinence-focused. Instructions about condoms are couched in terms of how often they fail, according to state law.

Well, ya do gotta hand it to Texas, no? Even when something fails spectacularly, they do it up big. Despite ANY evidence that abstinence edumication is anything but the equivalent of pouring large sums money down a rabbit hole, Texas leads the nation in money spent on abstinence-only edumication...because sometimes success can't be monitored with mere numbers, right?

Of course, what else could one reasonably expect in a state controlled by a Republican Party that has long since given itself over to the Christian equivalent of the Taliban? Most of the folks who control the Texas Republican Party may not have cracked their Bibles in a good, long while, but they sure as Hell know from power and control- which is really what this is all about, eh?

Reality and truth aside, those who control public edumication in Texas are focused with laser-beam intensity on the way they think things oughta be. I don't think any reasonable person would argue with the idea that abstinence is a noble goal. It would seem, though, that far too many people have long since forgotten what it's like to be a teenager, a time when immaturity and raging hormones often combine to produce some spectacularly bad decision-making. Instead of trying to equip children with the tools that might assist them in making sound decisions that avoid long-term consequences (like pregnancy, f'rinstance), those pushing abstinence-only education seem far more concerned with ideological purity than the welfare of children. Even if they were trying to keep Texas children barefoot and pregnant, which I know they're not, they likely couldn't be any more successful. I suppose this is what happens when you're wedded to ideology, theology, and just plain ignorance instead of the well-being and welfare of children. The numbers? Well, they pretty much speak or themselves, don't they?

Nice work, eh? And you wonder why I don't miss Texas....

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This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on July 17, 2008 7:22 PM.

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