Apparently the Sioux Falls School Board knows more about sexually transmitted diseases than the Center for Disease Control. The Center for Disease Control recommends that students be taught to "abstain from sexual intercourse until they are ready to establish a mutually monogamous relationship within the context of marriage." Yet, our own school board has accepted the recommendation to not allow the word "marriage" to be part of the Sioux Falls curriculum. Because, as one person at the meeting said, we couldn't have abstinence be taught "until marriage" because that would alienate the "gay and lesbian kids".
There are two bills in the South Dakota Legislature which have to do with Sex Education in our state's Middle Schools. One of the bills would be a disaster for our state by mandating comprehensive sex education in our middle schools while teaching every contraceptive method know to man. The other bill is a healthy bill focusing on teaching values. Click here to learn more about these bills where you can also support the healthy bill by signing a petition and forwarding the site to friends.
Penny Martens, parent of a Middle School student and former teacher, submitted a proposal to change the school's sexual health written curriculum. The Argus Leader reported on this story today.
The public discussion that has taken place over the last several months has been on some of the Middle School Sex Education materials, not the curriculum itself.
Parents who have been involved in this issue feel that without a change in the district curriculum, the replacement materials could possibly be just as inappropriate and inaccurate as the HealthSmart materials that were removed. One School Board member was stated in the Argus as saying "To teach abstinence only would be inappropriate. We're bound by state standards. We have to teach what the state tells us we need to teach." However, it states in Mrs. Martens letter to the Administration that the proposed changes "closely reflect the values of our community as well as the directives of the State. . . In fact, the proposed changes align more closely with the state standards than the existing objectives."
Mrs. Martens goes on to say that these changes "would have a positive impact on our students because they are more thorough than the current objectives and are character-based, in accordance with our state law."
This issue comes down to standards. As a community, we can compromise the standards we have for our precious youth with the attitude of "kids are going to have sex, so let's teach them to do it as safe as possible." Or, we can choose to set our standards a little higher and trust our kids with the truth. That's what this proposal is all about.
Dr. Warren Throckmorton, a psychology professor at Grove City College in Pennsylvania, reports on a recent study published in the American Journal of Preventative Medicine. This two-year, in-depth study of sex and drug use based on 13,000 middle and high school students concludes that it's not depression that causes a teen to engage in sexual activity, but it's actually the other way around - teenage sexual activity causes depression.
Girls in particular follow sexual activity with depression. About 4% of girls who abstain, suffer from depression. The rate triples to 12% for girls who have experimented with sex. And it goes up to a whopping 44% for those more promiscuous! Again the study proves that depression follows the sexual activity, not the other way around.
Proponants of Comprehensive Sexuality Education need to understand there are emotional consequences of sex outside of marriage and that this irresponsible attitude of "kids are doing it anyway, so let's teach them to do it safer" causes permanent damage far beyond pregnancy and STD's.
When will the "other side" begin to understand that no one wants to withhold information from our children. Rather, we're tired of feeding our kids a bunch of lies about the physical, emotional and financial consequences of sex outside of marriage. Additionally, we don't believe it's appropriate for public schools to normalize promiscuous behavior for middle schoolers when the facts tell us it's not normal.
We tell our kids it's illegal to use drugs, alcohol, tobacco and break curfew. Shouldn't we level with them on the legality and danger of sexual activity?
It is wonderful to have students involved in extracurricular activities such as music, athletics and journalism. So it is difficult to be critical of a high school newspaper. However, it should be stated that the existing media can rest assured that the future of their liberal media bias is in safe hands. Just take one look at the Sioux Falls Lincoln High School Statesman. Lincoln High senior, Sarah Reinecke (who spoke at the November 14 School Board meeting in favor of keeping the HealthSmart materials) recently wrote an article on the Middle School sex education materials, although in her presentation to the Board she herself said she had only been able to skim the materials she was defending.
In this article, the proponents of the HealthSmart materials continue to defend their position by saying that they just want the facts presented. The question then becomes, what are the facts? Is it a fact that there is absolutely no sure way to prevent unwanted pregnancy and STD's outside of abstinence? Is it a fact that the condom failure rate is at best 10%? Is it a fact that there are significant emotional consequences that result from sex outside of marriage? Is it a fact that sex by a middle schooler my be illegal in South Dakota? Is it a fact that some STD's cannot be prevented by condoms?
If these are the facts, they indeed should be presented. However, they're not in the HealthSmart materials. The HealthSmart materials deliberately attempt to normalize sex for middle schoolers and do a disservice by avoiding the true consequences of sex outside of marriage and ultimately endanger the lives of our youth.
Another shocker you can read in the Statesman is a feature article titled "Seven Day Challenge: Living the Seven Deadly Sins". Here the writer of the article, a Lincoln High student, day by day lives out each of the seven deadly sins of gluttony, sloth, wrath, greed, lust, envy and pride. She concludes the article by saying "the lesson that I learned was that my week fulfilling the deadly sins was probably the best stress-reliever EVER. My advice to you: sin all you want . . . it's way better than yoga any day." This is what is being published in a school sponsored publication, led by teachers, written by students, read by students, supported by advertisers and funded by taxpayers.
And we're surprised when there's an incident on a school bus?
