Abstinence Only Education Leaves Wake Students "In the Dark"
Letter to the Editor
News and Observer
Saturday, December 27, 2003
In the dark
One of the most attractive aspects of Raleigh is the generally high level of education of its inhabitants. It is all the more vexing to note that the Wake County school board (defenders of education) want not only to replace the "education" in sex-ed with "indoctrination" but to extend this indoctrination to all other subjects whenever they touch upon sex.
Of course abstinence combined with monogamy is the only 100 percent certain way to avoid sexually transmitted diseases and extramarital pregnancies. But sex is a very powerful urge. How many of our leaders, religious and otherwise, will have to be caught with their pants down before that sinks in?
The premise on which the refusal to educate about sex is based is that knowledge produces increased sexual activity and thus more STDs and unwanted pregnancies. However, although no figures about the amount of sexual activity are available, experience in the developed countries with the most thorough and liberal sex education (mostly in northern Europe) shows that the incidence of STDs, unwanted pregnancies and abortion is lower there than anywhere else in the developed world.
It is smart to learn from the experience of others and imitate what has been proven to work. Knowledge is never harmful, ignorance is. And for a school board to want to keep its charges in the dark is unconscionable.
Simon Oosterman
Raleigh
|
