Comprehensive Sex Ed vs. Abstinence Only Sex Ed.

...and if you're one of those people who believe in sex only after marriage, that's cool too. Still, being completely ignorant of sex (other than that it exists and you shouldn't do it) is not effective. I think the US schools should promote protected sexual intercourse and teach teens against adverse sexual behavior, because abstinence only Sex Ed simply doesn't work.

Keeping people in the dark has never made them less curious about the matter at hand. Instead, people get curious, and without guidance, make decisions for themselves that may sometimes result in personal catastrophes. Educational ignorance (which is in itself a paradox) such as abstinence only education has not, in my opinion, done its job. Teen pregnancy rates are still up there, and STD's are still going around at high numbers.

It's time we switched to a more effective alternative and taught teenagers that "it's okay to have sex, just use a condom, don't get chlamydia and don't make babies unless you're ready." Then maybe we won't have so many STD folk and high school (middle school) drop-outs.

At least from the AIDS/HIV approach, comprehensive Sex Ed has been shown to be far more cogent than abstinence only education. In developing nations such as India/Africa, HIV-infected patients have decreased around 20% in the last 5 years since the standard sex ed curriculum has been amended (to dictate "use protection" vs "don't have sex altogether.) This has yielded the same response within America. Moreover, its been shown that there is now an exceedingly better (more honest) relationship between physicians and (HIV-positive potential) patients within free clinics in America all due to individuals no longer being chastised for their sexual activity but rather whether or not protection is used. This hence allows sooner diagnosis for HIV-positive patients which has as of late become one of the biggest problems associated with saving lives.

'Nuff said.
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Well, not exactly. See, the administration has taken it upon themselves to educate Third World countries (such as Ethiopia and some other Sub-Saharan countries) about this "abstinence only" idea. The only problem is, it doesn't really work, and so HIV and AIDS spreads around these countries like wildfire, when what we really need to do is drop a load of condoms into the area and teach the people how to use them. People are going to have sex. All around the world, there are people having sex right as you read this. I could make up a number, and it would sound believable, because there are that many people in the world!

We're entering a population crisis. Heck, we're already in one! Six billion people and rising? Have you ever taken a look at how many people make a million?


That's how many.

And the number of humans is rising continually. Everywhere on this planet, another baby is being born. (Except maybe Japan. They have the lowest birth rate anywhere on the planet.)

So, I put it to you. Do we continue to allow abstinence only sexual education, which leaves teenagers uninformed and can end up ruining their lives with unwanted children, unwanted marriages? Or do we demand comprehensive education to inform them of everything they will need to know?

Or do we just let them hump and blame it on them? So far, that seems to be working wonders... *rolls eyes*

Absolutely.

There is no reason for abstinence only programs. Heck, I can't even bring myself to call it education, because it's enforced ignorance.

The US, the only developed nation that still teaches abstinence only education, has the highest rate of teen pregnancy and abortion among developed nations, although the number of teen births have decreased in recent years. The effectiveness of sexual education can also be measured by the number of STDs and STIs, which is increasing at faster rates than other developed nations.

While teen births may be down, teens are still having sex. Something like three in five high school seniors are not virgins when they graduate from high school. Clearly the abstinence-only education that is prevalent has not scared everyone away from sex.
Because teens are having sex despite a sex-negative society, it would only be logical that we provide the knowledge and tools for them to do so safely. If more people are having safe sex and not getting pregnant or spreading STDs/STIs, it would follow that there would be less abortions, abandoned babies, and STDs/STIs as a result.