How-to manuals for teens?
Students who receive comprehensive sex education are half as likely to become teen parents as those who get none or abstinence-only sex education, according to researchers at the University of Washington.
There is substantial reliable evidence that abstinence-only programs fail to persuade young people to abstain from sex until marriage.
When youth schooled by abstinence-only programs do become sexually active,the programs’ anti-condom messages may actually discourage them from practicing safe sex, making the negative information the programs offer about contraception and disease prevention particularly dangerous. Such messages deny young people the opportunity to receive vital education to protect their health and well-being and, in particular, impede girls’ ability to avoid unwanted pregnancy and STIs to which they are more biologically susceptible.
The next stop for teen girls?
At least one in four teenage girls nationwide has a sexually transmitted disease, according to a controversial new study. The HPV virus that causes cervical cancer is by far the most common sexually transmitted infection in teen girls aged 14 to 19.
The news comes on the heels of controversy about the use of a new vaccine that can defend girls against the HPV virus. But some parents fear it will promote promiscuity.
Why are STDs so widespread among teens? Is abstinence the answer? More education? Or medical science?
The size of the sample seems rather small. Using 838 cases for a study gives enough information for a theory about the prevalence of the disease in the general population, but the CDC should widen its study to see if the numbers hold up — and they should start testing boys as well. If confirmed, it shows that we have failed to educate our children about the risks of sexual activity. Making condoms as available as Chap-Stick obviously hasn’t made them any safer or wiser.
When I told my 13-year-old daughter Alice I was taking her to get a vaccine that could help prevent cancer, she was mildly intrigued. "Cool," she allowed, "but I hate shots." Luckily, she didn't put up much resistance, and so we plunged into the heart of the most heated public-health matter of the moment: vaccinating tweenage girls against a sexually transmitted virus long before (one hopes!) they become sexually active.
To me, protecting my child from cancer outweighs any reluctance to ponder her sexual future. "But some parents are totally in denial," says my longtime pediatrician, Dr. Marc Wager of New Rochelle, N.Y. It's his practice to discuss the vaccine when parents bring a daughter for a checkup at 11 or 12. But he doesn't force it on those who resist, and he's willing to edit his discussion of HPV transmission for those who don't want a child to hear it.
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Where the boys aren't: Single-sex schooling is gaining traction.
The long-simmering debate over single-sex versus co-ed schooling is heating up again. A rural Georgia school district is set to become the first school district in the nation to go entirely single-sex, with boys and girls in separate classrooms -- a response to years of poor test scores, soaring dropout rates and high numbers of teen pregnancies.
The argument is that boys and girls learn differently, so they should have different classroom settings. But the idea runs counter to long-cherished notions of equality and non-discrimination.
Should public schools be free to segregate by sex? Would boys and girls benefit? Or are the benefits negligible?
In October 2006, the New York Times reported that the Bush administration had given public school districts “broad new latitude to expand the number of single-sex classes, and even schools.” Schools are responding to the new flexibility, which represents a remarkable change from past policy. “You’re going to see a proliferation” of single-sex schools, Paul Vallas, who is now in charge of the New Orleans Recovery School District, told the Times.
Let’s hope so, because both boys and girls stand to benefit, especially in urban areas.
"Single-gender, public academies need to guard against becoming a new form of tracking or resegregation," a 2001 California study said. "Segregation might lead to a safe or comfortable space for some populations, but they clearly create tensions for race and gender equity."
The academic success of both girls and boys was influenced more by small classes, strong curricula, dedicated teachers and equitable teaching practices than by single-sex settings, the researchers said. This finding reinforced those of a 1998 study by the American Association of University Women that concluded that separating the sexes does not necessarily improve the quality of education for girls.
Denver Public Schools officials are putting together guidance for schools on the attendance of pregnant students, crafting a plan expected to give them four to six weeks after childbirth to recover. "We're all in agreement we want these young ladies back in school and catching up," said Denver school board president Theresa Pena. "We also need to be very mindful of the time they need for bonding with their babies and for healing."
Is such a policy sensible, or does it reward irresponsible behavior?
Maybe, if you get pregnant in high school, and you want to take time off to bond with your child, you graduate a bit late. That's not punishment or penalizing, that's a natural result of actions you've taken. At the very least, if you want to take several weeks off school, you should go on a home/hospital-type program or perhaps online classes (assuming those programs exist in Colorado).
Some of the kinder commenters, perhaps predictably, suggested that the prospect of four weeks' "vacation" would only "incentivize" teen pregnancy -- and that if these girls are "irresponsible" enough to get pregnant, the school should not "institutionalize [its] approval," but rather force them to face the "consequences."
Right. Because teen motherhood is easier than school, and because a baby is not a "consequence." And because (what may amount to) showing young mothers the school door will help break the complex, multifaceted teen pregnancy cycle.
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