Texas School Has Chlamydia Outbreak And Now Needs To Rethink Sex "Ed"

[bingley]

Many of these kids are going to do drugs. Statistical fact. Why shouldn't we teach them how to do it safely? Can you tell me any reason for public schools not to teach kids the safest way to inject heroin into their bloodstream?

Don't we already do that in hygiene or biology? To prevent infection by bacteria or viruses, avoid exposure. That means don't make out with someone with a cold, don't touch blood or saliva when giving CPR or bandaging someone, don't exchange bodily fluids, don't share needles, etc. I hope everybody learns this.

I don't think we should teach kids: "get your dope from Mike Mike at 33rd and MLK cuz his s**t is the bomb!"

 

[BogWalker]

This just in, even in schools where they teach condom usage and STD information people still get pregnancies and STDs. I personally know people who fit that description.

Stupid is going to be stupid. As well, this is the age of the internet. If little Johnny wants to learn how to wrap it before he taps it all he has to do is google it. The school is far from the only source of information on this. I don't see how somebody could make it into high school and not know how a damn condom works, sex ed or not.

 

[steveh_131]

Don't we already do that in hygiene or biology? To prevent infection by bacteria or viruses, avoid exposure. That means don't make out with someone with a cold, don't touch blood or saliva when giving CPR or bandaging someone, don't exchange bodily fluids, don't share needles, etc. I hope everybody learns this.

I don't think we should teach kids: "get your dope from Mike Mike at 33rd and MLK cuz his s**t is the bomb!"

Yeah... I agree. It was more of a rhetorical question.

 

[Baditude]

Life lesson learned for these kids: Every choice has a consequence Charge them for the cure, or make them watch std videos

 

[Lowe0]

Why is it nonsense? Many of these kids are going to do drugs. Statistical fact. Why shouldn't we teach them how to do it safely? Can you tell me any reason for public schools not to teach kids the safest way to inject heroin into their bloodstream?

While I don't recall the exact class, I'm sure I had some sort of health class along the way that explained why sharing needles was a bad thing. I don't know of a scourge of track marks causing significant strain on our society's resources; disease spread by sharing needles, on the other hand....

My point is, schools don't need to show you how to tie off your arm and find a vein because it's not relevant to passing on the knowledge needed to ameliorate the harm in question. How to use a condom, when birth control will be ineffective, etc.... alluding to them won't be as effective as outright explanation.

Providing teenagers with birth control is an inherently conservative idea: it calls on them to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions in advance, rather than after the fact. It's better for us fiscally as well; a condom is a lot cheaper than putting a child through public school. The same goes for STDs: preventing them consumes fewer resources than treating them (glazier's fallacy).

 

[steveh_131]

My point is, schools don't need to show you how to tie off your arm and find a vein because it's not relevant to passing on the knowledge needed to ameliorate the harm in question. How to use a condom, when birth control will be ineffective, etc.... alluding to them won't be as effective as outright explanation.

What about finding safe smack? How do you know if it's pure, or laced with poison? Shouldn't we teach them how to tell in school, so they don't hurt themselves?

Providing teenagers with birth control is an inherently conservative idea: it calls on them to take responsibility for the consequences of their actions in advance, rather than after the fact. It's better for us fiscally as well; a condom is a lot cheaper than putting a child through public school. The same goes for STDs: preventing them consumes fewer resources than treating them (glazier's fallacy).

Great. Do this with your kids if you want. Pass out flyers. Start a kid's club where you teach them how to have safe sex with each other. Do what you want, I see no reason to involve the government in your quest to teach teenagers about condoms.

 

[Lowe0]

Great. Do this with your kids if you want. Pass out flyers. Start a kid's club where you teach them how to have safe sex with each other. Do what you want, I see no reason to involve the government in your quest to teach teenagers about condoms.

Thankfully, I have no children... that education about how birth control works is obviously paying off. As for why the government should be involved: who do you think I'd going to be picking up the tab for all of these unwed teenage moms? It's in the government's best interest to reduce its future expenses. And that's just the cost of social services; let alone the opportunity cost of whatever contribution they would have otherwise made to the economy.

 

[steveh_131]

Thankfully, I have no children... that education about how birth control works is obviously paying off.

You'd have a bunch of children right now if the government hadn't taught you how to use condoms? Really?

As for why the government should be involved: who do you think I'd going to be picking up the tab for all of these unwed teenage moms? It's in the government's best interest to reduce its future expenses. And that's just the cost of social services; let alone the opportunity cost of whatever contribution they would have otherwise made to the economy.

Who's going to be picking up the tab for the kids who get hospitalized when they get some drugs laced with poison in their system?

This is not a good justification. The correct solution for this is to eliminate social welfare, not task the government with this sort of nonsense.

 

[Lowe0]

You'd have a bunch of children right now if the government hadn't taught you how to use condoms? Really?



Who's going to be picking up the tab for the kids who get hospitalized when they get some drugs laced with poison in their system?

This is not a good justification. The correct solution for this is to eliminate social welfare, not task the government with this sort of nonsense.

As with drug use, eliminating social welfare doesn't eliminate the negative external costs to society (for example, lost productivity, whether it's a teen mom who doesn't go to college and doesn't reach her potential, or a junkie who's too strung out to hold down a permanent job). Whether it comes out of your paycheck in taxes, or through some other negative externality, you, me, and everyone else are still paying for it.

 

[steveh_131]

As with drug use, eliminating social welfare doesn't eliminate the negative external costs to society (for example, lost productivity, whether it's a teen mom who doesn't go to college and doesn't reach her potential, or a junkie who's too strung out to hold down a permanent job). Whether it comes out of your paycheck in taxes, or through some other negative externality, you, me, and everyone else are still paying for it.

Yes, people do stupid things and it affects us all.

More government will not prevent this.

 

[Lowe0]

Yes, people do stupid things and it affects us all.

More government will not prevent this.

Not entirely, no. But if a little education can drive the numbers down, then why not? Why perpetuate the waste of resources cleaning up the mess instead of being proactive?

 

[mrjarrell]

This isn't a matter of "more government", Steve. It's a matter of restructuring what the local governments are already doing (in Texas' case, at the command of the state) so that the outcome matches up with reality and is actually useful to the the students who are paying attention. While it would be a great idea for the parents to pass on useful info to their kids, it apparently didn't happen for those kids in Texas, and many more across the nation. The schools are teaching what the parents don't or won't (in many locales) and some are doing more than others with the information available to the students.

 

[steveh_131]

Not entirely, no. But if a little education can drive the numbers down, then why not? Why perpetuate the waste of resources cleaning up the mess instead of being proactive?

I don't even trust government schools to effectively teach my children in basic arithmetic. Human sexuality? Hell no. I can't even imagine how much subtle propaganda and nuanced agendas will be worked into 'health class' once the typical school administrator has their way with it. I couldn't even go to my middle school art class without having to listen to my lesbian teacher's feminist propaganda, and that was a good 20 years ago.

This isn't a matter of "more government", Steve.

I disagree. They've decided that it is not the government's place to teach children how to more 'safely' have sex with one another. You think that it is the government's place, and would like to see it added to the curriculum.

Holding the government responsible for correcting another social problem is 'more government', in my book.

While it would be a great idea for the parents to pass on useful info to their kids, it apparently didn't happen for those kids in Texas, and many more across the nation. The schools are teaching what the parents don't or won't (in many locales) and some are doing more than others with the information available to the students.

I'd still like to see some evidence that any of this has anything to do with a lack of information.

Condoms are inconvenient and require fore-thought, something that teenagers are not well known for.

 

[Lowe0]

I don't even trust government schools to effectively teach my children in basic arithmetic. Human sexuality? Hell no. I can't even imagine how much subtle propaganda and nuanced agendas will be worked into 'health class' once the typical school administrator has their way with it. I couldn't even go to my middle school art class without having to listen to my lesbian teacher's feminist propaganda, and that was a good 20 years ago.

No need to trust; whether sex ed has a positive impact is something that can be tracked (teen pregnancy rates, STD rates, etc.). All it takes to see whether it works is cold, hard data.

 

[Blackhawk2001]

I Am of the belief that abstinence-only sex ed is silly and ignorant of common sense. Teens have hormones and will experiment unless they are kept under lock and key. I was told to hold it off until I was ready, not necessarily for marriage, and to take every precaution and to me that's reasonable. They should teach SAFE sex along with abstinence, because neither one is a one-size-fits-all solution. Teaching abstinence alone is a recipe for disaster, anyone with kids will tell you the further you restrict them to do something they want to do they more they will want to do it.

I was a teen once upon a time and _I_ had hormones (Boy! Did I!) and yet nobody I knew had a kid out of wedlock and most of the guys we knew were lying if they said they had screwed "so-and-so." I wasn't a particularly religious or moral guy, but I didn't have sex until I got married. (That probably has more to do with the common sense of the girls I hung out with than my intelligence.) Had "the talk" with my son when he was a freshman in highschool (because he was dating a senior) and as far as I can tell, he abstained until he was in college. It's not that hard to teach "abstinence" if your heart is in it and you make the consequences clear, even to "young skulls full of mush."

 

[AA&E]

My dad told me "That pencil in your pants doesn't have an eraser.... don't make any mistakes."

sage advice...

might have to use it with my sons

 

[steveh_131]

No need to trust; whether sex ed has a positive impact is something that can be tracked (teen pregnancy rates, STD rates, etc.). All it takes to see whether it works is cold, hard data.

I didn't mean that I don't trust them to teach kids that condoms prevent STD's. Those kids already know that. You're deluding yourself if you think this is caused by a lack of information.

I mean that I don't trust them to teach the subject without inserting all sorts of agendas and propaganda.

 

[jamil]

My dad told me "That pencil in your pants doesn't have an eraser.... don't make any mistakes."

sage advice...

might have to use it with my sons

I am totally using that line.

 

[ArmedProgrammer]

A similar line... found on a magnet in a friend's car once:

Magnet was in the image of a Doctor looking very serious and stern.... "Remember If you drink , don't park - accidents cause people..."

 

[Woobie]

What seems to elude a few here is the fact that you are being played by the media. They put out a story on an outbreak of the clap at a HS that teaches abstinence. Now why is that? Hmm. Meanwhile they publish no stories about the teen pregnancy and std rates in other schools. Surely we must conclude that since the stories don't exist, that their sex ed is more effective.