“The good news is, we can commit. Creation of a chain linking gender neutral social settings where acceptance is applied after conviviality is attempted.” – SALF
[sic] Coitus: condoning or condemning condom coaching. Ten out of ten doctors –with actual degrees– will agree that the number one contraceptive measure, that can guarantee 100% that pregnancy will not occur is abstinence. Subsidiarity, a room full of teacher may have a consensus that a good education is at the heart of successful developing lives and relationships. A few years back the sportswear company Nike had the slogan “Just Do It,” as a way of encouraging people to go out and run or do anything athletic. Around American schools is the silhouetted image of a condom on a bumper sticker with text that says “Just Wear It”. Untangling the appositional policy behind both ads is a message that requires one to live. Where republican viewpoints may prefer to see a message closer “Don’t Do It,” or, “Don’t Wear It,” I struggle to think how the flippant, slogan could go without misinterpretations or be less than affective. Talk first, Sex later; sex being the latter. Sex, is the latter, the staple behind most parenthetical thoughts expressions and actions. We never acknowledge it, we never give it social premise, the whole idea is non permissible and for the life of me I cannot understand why people keep choosing to have babies. We tell our youth to stop screwing up their lives and the lives of their partner and instead get an education, a degree obtaining a career first. At the latter end of ‘abstinence,’ in a small thought bubble, that always lacks mention, is still sex; for there is no abstinence without intercourse and obviously no coitus with abstinence.
Right now Wisconsin public schools want to follow suit of some 26 other states in the US in teaching abstinence as oppose to a safe sex education. The required health class would amend the program that Governor Jim Doyle’s administration started back in 2006 which has reduced the birthrate from teenage to about 29 out of 1,000 females in Madison (capitol city). What this means is that our, primarily republican, State Assembly would like to instate ‘Chastity 101’ for the sake of appeasing parents or political motive believing educational knowledge is synonymous to giving consent. Safe sex education is just that, therefore: how in intercourse, and take precautions against having a child or acquiring a STD, I believe is in the root of all things in an affective sex-ed course. Whereas, abstinence, is more or less too abstract to personify as far as teaching the action, or implementation is concerned. Teaching abstinence to those who still have their virginity is quite literally like teaching a person to do something they already do. Incongruent to almost every other class students will take in the middle school high school level is this style of education; in most classes children are busy learning something new.
A non-committal, clutter phrase is a group words that is, for all intents and purposes, easily found to be rhetorically irrelevant, and should be taken out of a sentence. For example “sure, I guess,” “whatever you want,” “if you say so.” One would debate that since children already sorta think like this, it would be of little benefit to teach in this fashion. Arguing that we’d be dancing around what sex really is in a half hazard way if we negated teaching points for fear that it would desensitize our children. Desensitizing already has its place on a regular basis with no social actually ramification or justice, just from the usage of video games and television, not to mention the inappropriate strangers, corrupt athletic coaches, and preachers. Plus adults who have any experience with raising children probably would agree that the youth are not always too fond of listening to the instruction of their teacher. Therefore when we decide fill the minds of our future taxpayers with these clutter words and concepts rather vague expressions of reason not to have sex, we have left far too much padding for their young minds to wonder. Regardless of how I feel about the system needing to include safe sex education, Juneau Country District Attorney, Scott Southworth had a few words of his own to present to the Wisconsin State Journal arguing that the bill former Governor Jim Doyle passed is, “sick and shameful piece of legislation…Forcing our schools to instruct children on how to utilize contraceptives encourages our children to engage in sexual behavior, whether as a victim or an offender.” He goes on to say, “It is akin to teaching children about alcohol use, then instructing them on how to make mixed alcoholic drinks.”
In fairness these adults speaking to papers obviously are unaware of how things really are in the middle school level these days. A close friend of mine since junior high informed me, that he learned about sex from his peers in 6th grade. Rumors spread when the word around the playground was that a boy and girl got naked in the locker-room…unsupervised. Should this surprise anyone reading? We have so much filth on the T.V. and yes even the public radio two major social behavior instructors for our youth. What I am yet to discover in my research, are the attempts to just talk to the children outside of the uncomfortable walls of the school and truly ask and understand from them on a regular basis what it is they think they need to know about life. If our tax dollars cannot afford to keep close enough eye on our children’s actions those 8-14hours we are at work, can they really afford to teach our children not do something that should already be understood as being against State and Federal law? Our only real option is to expand the class; that is, if our goal is to minimize/eliminate teenage pregnancy. Instead of reducing the course material, we should expand the section and make it, a separate, required course. Growing up, this author took a health class that included sexual education. In it we did discuss abstinence in just about every class period. Part of the class was how to use a condom, (male and female), and others concerning contraceptives. Then we moved on to birthing and reviewed an overview of the last few weeks, and then the unit was over. We did not really go into depth about what happens if one were to actually have a child.
The situation in question of being unsure what the argument over intermediate/high school sex education is even about is one factor a philanthropist may look at and concur with this author in requiring attention before we can progress. What has been not been mentioned in full is the general purpose for the class. I suppose that if the purpose were to inform the child about ways to be healthy that would be one thing. But if the purpose of the course were to preach prudence in an effort to display the trust that we have in our kids then the republican’s idea would be ideal. Taking a closer to the way things are right now I came across an article online titled, “Wisconsin Sex Ed: There’s an Elephant in the Room.” In 2010 the HYA legislative bill was passed by Wisconsin’s liberal legislature. Healthy Youth Act or HYA is a curriculum that Planned Parenthood organization is in charge of designing. One year later the new conservative legislature sought ratification for the purposes of opting out certain sections in the program such as condom demonstration (once a classroom requirement). The confusion has to do with teaching barrier methods that are nonsensical to those from conservative perspective. HYA does not even allow the instruction of abstinence, adhering to America’s 2/3s law, which entails the belief of America not being 2/3s or more in agreement. The important thing to remember here is that the curriculum cannot be based on religious belief. Bias against sexual orientation or even premarital is impermissible within HYA.
“When you talk about abstinence first, then educate on health benefits of contraception the message you’re sending to teens is…” not a mystery for Rhonda Thompson, the Director of Development for Care Net Pregnancy Center for Dane County which is an organization that assists women who believe they may have become pregnant or know they have already conceived. Care Net of Dane County has been for 25 years and has served over 8,000 women in unplanned pregnancies with Thompson working there since 2005. This medically licensed clinic is free of charge to all, and promotes professional confidential service. Rhonda Thompson finishes her thought saying, “…the message that [we’re] you’re sending to teens is it’s acceptable to be engaged in casual sexual activity as long as you use contraception.” Given Thompson’s education and background involves a BS is in the field Math and Computer Science Education, her understanding the minds’ of children, teenagers, and education is great; and, what makes this person’s opinion stand out more is the fact that she is an active parent in the school of which presumably a few, (if not all), of her five children attend. I cannot say I understand her not. As a person with a child I feel as if I am in the position to advocate for the teaching of abstinence. As a person with a pending college degree I feel as if it would be remiss of me to of forget about the educational importance of teaching both sides of an argument and remaining unbiased. An unbiased approach would have a greater impact on the lives of children as they may grow to learn and comprehend that, as adults, we do not wish for them to have to learn the hard way the burdens of being a parent, especially at a young age.
The thing without an answer is going to simply be what the curriculum should be. Why so many debates about disassembling a perfectly sound course passed in 2006 by Doyle if we have no viable alternative. Wrapping up this rather drab editorial looking at Wisconsin policy through the eyes of a young parent still in relative youth, I am able to express the concern that has always been true for my own personal education career and probably the careers of many of my peers. This concern I put so nonchalantly is the same nonchalant noncommittal point of view that policy makers make daily, and that is consistency. The lack of consistency is a centerfold of headache and forming dispute unnecessarily. If we want to teach our children not to have children, we show them all of what it requires. We show them the bloody birthing procedure, the emotional swings of pregnancy, the aftermath of child support, the obligation of having to care for another living being for the rest of their natural life. We show them in the most real non-watered down sense how blessed they are as children to have parents who do these things for them unconditionally as hard as it is. The mere fact of being in school shows that their parent or guardian is doing something correctly. Let us justify as professionally as possible that every part of being a child is thrown against the wall as soon as another child enters the frame.