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Birth Control – Where did you learn the facts? As a fourteen year old freshman in High School, there was little that scared me. I was tough, I never blushed, and I loved 'picking-on' the senior guys that dared to pick-on me. High School was an adventure I couldn't get enough of. Now don't get me wrong, I was never mean to anyone. I never picked-on anyone younger than me, and never on anyone that did not 'get me first', unless it was a friend and all in good fun. One of the required classes was the 'Health' course. It was taken for one semester, usually during freshman year. Just about every health topic was covered in some way. I also recall being informed that it was in this class that Sex-Ed would be taught. A variety of sounds issued forth from both the boys and the girls. The boys were doing all they could to appear as macho as possible, while the girls would twitter, giggle, and blush. A few girls looked like deer caught in a vehicle's headlights, their eyes large, their bodies unmovable. Once everyone managed to calm down, with some assistance from our teacher, it was also announced that the boys and girls would be split up during the two weeks Sex-Ed would be taught. "Split up! Why are they going to split us up, will the boys learn things that we won't?" My mind raced, I wanted to know what the boys would know.
The teacher told us that our class, and two or three others, would be split up so that both sexes would feel more comfortable learning and asking questions during the Sex-Ed weeks. I am thinking to myself, "Yeah, right. Have your seen the looks on these girls faces? There is no way some of them are going to feel more comfortable!" When the time finally came, and Sex-Ed was going to be our only concern for an hour a day for the next two weeks, the class split. The girls from our class and two or three others all joined in the lecture room, and I believe that the boys went to the gym. This happened way back in 1984 or 1985, so my memory of the events is not as crystal clear as it could be. Our entire graduating class consisted of about 200 students, the largest the High School had seen. Of course, each following class was a bit bigger, but for us, the class of '87, it was 'cool'. So imagine about 50 girls in a lecture room learning Sex-Ed, and I was among them. We were taught about sexually transmitted diseases, though I don't recall HIV-AIDS being among them at the time. We learned about reproduction, how the female body works, and how the male body works, though in a simplified version from what I know today. What has to happen for pregnancy to occur, and how to prevent it by using proper birth control or not having sex at all. Nothing earth shattering was divulged to the class, and I think that many of us had a good working understanding of everything already. So there I was, thinking that we had learned what we needed to know should any among us decide to have sex. All bases were covered, we had been educated. Now let's jump ahead to 1987, my senior year of High School. Sex-Ed is still being taught, but they don't split up the girls and the boys. Everything is still pretty much taught the same way though. I spoke to my old health teacher, and asked if she would allow me to present a lecture to one of her classes. I proposed creating a questionnaire with simple questions that required either a yes, no, or age for an answer. I would pass the questionnaire out to junior and senior students, all of whom should have taken the Sex-Ed course their freshman year.
I asked how old they were when they first had sex and the average answer was 15*. Good, a year after Sex-Ed. I also asked if they always used proper birth control, many said no! I asked them to choose from the multiple-choice answers when a girl cannot get pregnant. Most got this one correct, answering that a girl can get pregnant at any time during her cycle, but some still answered incorrectly. Uh-Oh, what went wrong in the Sex-Ed class that these students were answering incorrectly? As it turns out, nothing went wrong. These students chose to believe myths, rumors, and 'school gossip' instead of what was taught in Sex-Ed. To me this is a scary thought. Although the students that answered the questionnaire took the Sex-Ed course from this High School, I wonder about other High Schools that either teach only Abstinence or nothing at all. What are other kids learning? I went to, and graduated from Clarkston High School, located in Washington State. Currently there is legislation before the Washington State House, House Bill 1178, which would require "…all sex education courses paid for with public funds would have to provide medically accurate information, supported by scientific research and experts in the sexual health field."¹ I couldn't agree more! I am not against teaching abstinence, in fact I feel that should be a major part of any Sex-Ed curriculum, but I do not think it should be all that is taught. Learning only abstinence will not help the student that gets married and wants to prevent pregnancy, and it will not help any student that chooses to have sex later in life with another person that 'claims' to also be a virgin and isn't. In a perfect world, everyone would learn the truth about proper use of birth control, abstinence, and STDs at home from their parents. This world is not perfect, and students need to be taught the truth. I learned about Sex-Ed from books, my high school, and from web sites. I didn't learn at home, but my son will. My son will learn the facts, no scare tactics will be used, and he will be encouraged to ask questions. I will also monitor what is, and is not, in the schools that he attends, and if any 'myths, rumors, or just plain BS' is taught, I will speak up, I will insist on correction. I do wonder though, where did you learn about sex, birth control, and STDs? Do you have a parent to thank, a teacher, or the internet, for telling you the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? Where do you want your children to learn the facts? *This is just the average age. Some students had not had sex at all, and others had sex as early as age 12. This figure is an average of the ages at which participants actually had sex, and did not include those that had not had sex. 1. Quoted from http://www.thesunlink.com/redesign/2003-01-31/local/62583.shtml "Legislation would require 'medically accurate' sex ed" Associated Press news story.
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