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 Abstinence Only Education 
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As a deviation to the post Emily made in the advertising topic, what do people think about abstinence only education?

Personally, I believe that abstinence only education is harmful to students. I think that we should give our students the knowledge they need to make informed decisions, not scare them with false information about sex.

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Nikki Tester


Tue Dec 02, 2008 9:59 am
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I completely agree with Nikki. I am going to be a phys ed and health teacher and so I have discussed this a lot in my health classes. Today there are not a whole lot of students who are not sexually active. By only teaching abstinence only I think that we are wasting our time as well as the students. If they are not practicing abstinence than there is no reason to just teach that. I do not think that you should cut out teaching abstinence and the benefits of abstaining all together, but also teach the students how to be safe if they decide to be sexually active. Many students are not open to talking with their parents about sex either so if I were a parent I would rather my child know safe alternatives to abstinence instead of practicing unsafe things.


Tue Dec 02, 2008 6:08 pm
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I am glad that you started this string Nikki. This is a very important issue in education and it is something that I think as teachers it is key for us to have thought about it and know where we stand on it. I think abstinence only education is a kind of "If we ignore it, it will go away" tactic and clearly it is not working. I am wondering if anyone has any ideas though how we as teachers should also handle when students ask us about sex. Especially high schoolers, I know I want to be open with my students and therefore be approachable for them when they have questions or need help. If your students ask you about sex and your school encourages abstinence only education is is okay to discuss it with them? Just something to consider.

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Emily Suzanne White


Wed Dec 03, 2008 12:34 pm
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I completely agree! Abstinance only education definitely was designed for a utopian society. It doesn't make students not have sex, it makes them curious about why no one will talk about it with them. I agree that parents should be the ones to talk to their children about sex, however, let's face it...some parents just WON'T, ever. Those kids will be the ones who do not know where to get protection, how to use it, or where to turn if it fails. It makes students afraid to talk about it with adults, since it's portrayed as a taboo subject, and therefore, they feel like there is nowhere to get information when they need it. I am a firm believer that almost any topic can be taught in a school setting if it is approached in a respectful and respectable manner.

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Amanda Klinger


Wed Dec 03, 2008 9:32 pm
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Not to be redundant, but I entirely agree with the aforementioned comments. I think one reason abstinence only has continued to be taught is because schools are afraid of stepping on the toes of religious sects in their community. But, schools should not cater to one group of people's believes and ideas. I do not think this should be an exception. Foremost there are many students who are not religious and will hear from no one about sex education except maybe misconstrued ideas from equally ignorant classmates. Secondly, there are many students who are parts of the religious sects who don't follow their place of worships beliefs on sexual activity whether their parents want to come to terms with it or not.

As we have talked about with other things, I think sex education is important for many reasons, one being health and safety. Also, I think abstinence should still be taught and acknowledged but it cannot be the only route to teach.

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Emily Mackie


Thu Dec 04, 2008 3:15 pm
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I agree with you all and think that it is important to teach other methods in sex ed. besides just abstinence. Of course, abstinence is the best and safest choice and that needs to be made very clear. However, many students choose to be sexually active and need to know how to be safe when doing so.

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Hannah Johnson


Sun Dec 07, 2008 11:16 pm
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I totally agree with Hannah. In the past I do not think that abstinence was necessary but with the change in our society sex before marriage had become a norm. Students are learning it from the media and other cultural influence so why should the schools not offer a more informed voice and opinion. Schools should explicitly state what sex means and that waiting till marriage is the best choice for safety and a meaningful relationship, but acknowledge that unfortunately most students won't wait. If they are going to teach it though they need to explain all elements of sex: the physical AND the emotional part. Oh yea, and not do it in a cheesy way that makes it laughed look stupid.

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Kollin Adam Kalk


Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:32 pm
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I definitely agree that abstinence should be encouraged and taught as the safest and best choice but students should also be taught ALL the other information too because, like Kollin said, they are going to learn it from other things such as media. Also, if they don't learn it in the classroom or from the media most likely they will receive their information from a very unreliable source like another student on the school bus. Then their are students walking around with false information and no one is teaching them the facts. Which, in my opinion, leaves us with a lot of teenage mothers and diseases.

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Kelsey McGraw


Fri Dec 12, 2008 2:30 am
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