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Abstinence??????

CattleArmy

Well-known member
Abstinence Only Program Moving Toward Renewal


Posted: June 20, 2008 - 1:00 pm ET

(Washington) Despite a growing body of evidence showing it is not only ineffective but also discriminatory toward LGBT youth a renewal of the Bush administration's abstinence-only-until-marriage program for schools appears likely in Congress.

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies has voted to continue funding the Community-Based Abstinence Education (CBAE) program.

The federal government now spends about $176 million annually on abstinence-until-marriage education.

“It’s hard to imagine a good reason why, in these tight economic times, Congress would intentionally flush taxpayer dollars down the drain by spending them on disproven, ineffective abstinence-only-until-marriage programs," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office:

"We are floored that they continue to ignore study after study, and the consensus of the pubic health community, all concluding that these programs censor vital health care information, teach gender stereotypes, discriminate against lesbian and gay teens, and in some cases promote religion in the classroom in violation of the Constitution."

A study mandated by Congress last year found that students who participated in sexual abstinence programs were just as likely to have sex within a few years as those who did not.
The study, by Mathematica Policy Research, also found that students who attended the abstinence classes reported having similar numbers of sexual partners as those who did not attend the classes, and they first had sex at about the same age as their control group counterparts - 14 years and nine months.

A report a year earlier by the Society of Adolescent Medicine found that abstinence-only education was "unlikely to meet the health needs" of gay because abstinence-only programs focus heavily on no sex until marriage and ignore homosexuality. This could lead to increased risk of infection among these youngsters, the investigators said.

Under the CBAE program participating states then provide $3 for every $4 they get from the federal government. But a growing number states decline to take part in the grant program.

The most recent was Arizona. In January Gov. Janet Napolitano (D) told the Bush administration that the state does not want $1 million from the federal government because the programs don't work.

The move makes Arizona the 16th state to reject the federal money.




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In my opinion the money could be better spent developing safe sex programs. If the kids are gonna do it and the statics show they are they might as well be prepared and be safe.
 

fff

Well-known member
I agree that it's a stupid program and shouldn't be funded again. Pass out condoms and birth control pills to the kids. Send them to sex education classes. Give those kids ten pound bags of flour to haul around day and night for two weeks. These father-daughter purity balls are sort of creepy, too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/19/us/19purity.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
 

NMCowboy

Member
I wish this country could come up with some sort of reasonable, forward thinking education policy that will transcend administrational changes. Its pointless for each administration to come in and shake everything up in the name of "change" and then 4 or 8 years later everything changes and the states (and ultimately the local school districts) have to undo everything they've been doing and start complying with a totally new set of rules and guidelines.

Businesses don't do that, Ranchers and Farmers don't do that. It would be disasterous for a corporation or a Rancher/Farmer to suddenly strike out in a new direction with his business plan every 4 or 8 years. Nothing would get accomplished, yet its perfectly fine for us as a nation to do this with the education of our kids.

This policy is a failure just like NCLB is a failure. Its set up for failure. No school will be in compliance by 2012 or so. The way its structured is kind of like pulling your bulls out of your cow herd earlier and earlier each year in the hopes that eventually you won't have to buy bulls because your cows will breed back on their own.

sorry......I'll get off of my soapbox now. :)
 

Goodpasture

Well-known member
NMCowboy said:
I wish this country could come up with some sort of reasonable, forward thinking education policy that will transcend administrational changes. Its pointless for each administration to come in and shake everything up in the name of "change" and then 4 or 8 years later everything changes and the states (and ultimately the local school districts) have to undo everything they've been doing and start complying with a totally new set of rules and guidelines.

Businesses don't do that, Ranchers and Farmers don't do that. It would be disasterous for a corporation or a Rancher/Farmer to suddenly strike out in a new direction with his business plan every 4 or 8 years. Nothing would get accomplished, yet its perfectly fine for us as a nation to do this with the education of our kids.

This policy is a failure just like NCLB is a failure. Its set up for failure. No school will be in compliance by 2012 or so. The way its structured is kind of like pulling your bulls out of your cow herd earlier and earlier each year in the hopes that eventually you won't have to buy bulls because your cows will breed back on their own.

sorry......I'll get off of my soapbox now. :)
Once in a while you New Mexicans make a little sense.

What the "Just say no" fiasco tried to do and what the "abstinence" fiasco is trying to do is the same things that prohibition tried to do.....legislate activity that is human nature. All that does is drive it underground.

It is time we ended some sort of attempt at control, and spent our time and focus on education about consequences......it's the education I got at the end of a belt from mom and dad. But we haven't figured out, yet, how to make that part of a curriculum.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
Goodpasture said:
NMCowboy said:
I wish this country could come up with some sort of reasonable, forward thinking education policy that will transcend administrational changes. Its pointless for each administration to come in and shake everything up in the name of "change" and then 4 or 8 years later everything changes and the states (and ultimately the local school districts) have to undo everything they've been doing and start complying with a totally new set of rules and guidelines.

Businesses don't do that, Ranchers and Farmers don't do that. It would be disasterous for a corporation or a Rancher/Farmer to suddenly strike out in a new direction with his business plan every 4 or 8 years. Nothing would get accomplished, yet its perfectly fine for us as a nation to do this with the education of our kids.

This policy is a failure just like NCLB is a failure. Its set up for failure. No school will be in compliance by 2012 or so. The way its structured is kind of like pulling your bulls out of your cow herd earlier and earlier each year in the hopes that eventually you won't have to buy bulls because your cows will breed back on their own.

sorry......I'll get off of my soapbox now. :)
Once in a while you New Mexicans make a little sense.

What the "Just say no" fiasco tried to do and what the "abstinence" fiasco is trying to do is the same things that prohibition tried to do.....legislate activity that is human nature. All that does is drive it underground.

It is time we ended some sort of attempt at control, and spent our time and focus on education about consequences......it's the education I got at the end of a belt from mom and dad. But we haven't figured out, yet, how to make that part of a curriculum.

To me these are all areas the Federal Government has no business being in the middle of.....They should be left to the States and Local schools and school boards...
 

CattleArmy

Well-known member
My understanding is the reason the federal government gets involved is in the funding process. In the era of schools watching every penny and funding cuts I suppose it's one way to make a program available even though it's been proven the program is a huge waste of money and time.
 

NMCowboy

Member
Goodpasture:

What came at the end of your (and mine) parent's belt instilled, while you were young anyway, was fear. Fear of the pain of a spanking. Over time fear turns into respect when you grew up a bit and your thinking matured. I think its hard to get one without the other. So without that initial fear we have now a bunch of ill-mannered kids who grow up with no fear of consequences and thus no respect for anyone or anything, including themselves.

Its a shame that we, as a society, have outgrown this old fashioned notion. It hasn't done us any good as far as I can see.

CattleArmy: Thats exactly right. The Feds allow the states to do what they want, but if its not what the Feds want, then they cut off funding thus literally starving us into submission.
 

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