You know, 5 years ago when I went through Texas' "sex ed" program, I really didn't think it could get any worse. They seem to have exceeded my expectations yet again.

I hope we can get rid of all government programs which don't work. Like the trillions of dollars spent on the "war on poverty."

Hey, a little off topic, but in regards to the last comment - it seems that anything Bushie declares war on - terrorism, poverty, teen sex, bad education - seems to florish. Maybe he could declare war on jobs. Or economy.

Actually, Bush didn't declare War on Poverty. Mark is dredging up stuff from the '60s because he can't respond to the charges that this administration's pet projects don't work.

Something about this reminds me of the sex-ed film starring hippie bunnies in an early Simpsons episode: "Fuzzy and Fluffy courted, but never ruined their fun by giving in to their THROBBING BIOLOGICAL URGES."

elfy: so funny and so true.

I did respond -- if it's not working, get rid of it. And did the money spent on poverty programs end in the 60's? I don't think so.

Well, I'm 17, and I've been through Maryland's comprehensive sex-ed program. As much as I would like to denigrate ineffective "abstinence-only" programs, I have to say, honestly, that my own state's program nothing for me and did not affect my views of sex in the least. I'm chosing not to have sex for a variety of reasons, but it is definitely not because of my experiences in comprehensive-sex ed. If anything, it's in *spite* of those experiences.

When reading Planned Parenthood's literature on the subject, they make it seem as though, in comprehensive sex-ed programs, abstinence is placed as one viable option out of many, but this simply wasn't so, in my experience. If anything, it was rarely mentioned at all. Except, say, after discussing every method of birth control available in detail, the teacher would say something to the effect of, "Oh, and abstinence is good, too." End of discussion. Which only begs the question, "What IS abstinence? Is it a bird, a plane? What is the nature of it? Is it tangible, or some sort of abstract concept?"If students want more information, too bad. Abstinence, whatever it was, was sort of placed on the periphery of things. Even if it was mentioned at other times, it was definitely obscured by ad nauseum discussions of every single venereal disease in existence, and other in-one-ear-and-out-the-other conversations.

I came to *my* decision not through comprehensive sex-ed (or its opponents) but through a period of (rather intense)introspection. And when I came to that decision, I just moved on with my life. It was actually a very liberating experience! This is partially because I have more confidence in my own powers of self-restraint than the vast, vast majority of teenagers, but honestly, my hormones are raging as much as anyone else's. One can't help to intuit that such programs have a slightly perverse attitude toward human nature. Thankfully, we never learned about outercourse (i.e., "Giving head to the guy from gym class is just as good as staying chaste!"), but quite honestly, sometimes they go too far. Abstinence-only programs are flawed because they emphasize only the strictly negative consequences of sex, which will never work. (Plus, doesn't it seem that every graduate of these programs feel the need to blurt out, "I'm not having sex!" to every person they meet? I mean, I'm glad for you, but do you want a present, or something?) So I would say that comprehensive sex-ed isn't the exactly the Gift From On High that people make it out to be.

An Abstinence-Day gift? I want one!

I'm sorry to hear that the comprehensive plan you went through wasn't all we in Texas could dream of, but that's still a good deal better than what I had to put up with for two days (I had to decide whether to shut up and deal, or get up and scream that the teacher was lying).

I agree that sometimes they swing a little too far the opposite direction; there are some things that just don't need to be taught in school. But it would be nice to finally get a nice balance.

Given the placement, that ad's pretty darn funny.

-- Except, say, after discussing every method of birth control available in detail, the teacher would say something to the effect of, "Oh, and abstinence is good, too." End of discussion. Which only begs the question, "What IS abstinence? Is it a bird, a plane? What is the nature of it? Is it tangible, or some sort of abstract concept?"

Sounds to me like that is a prime example of either a poorly prepared teacher, or a _bad_ teacher. You don't say when/what grade you had the course; it's entirely possible that the teacher assumed that people knew what the word meant in context. Bad assumption to make, of course, but totally human in nature.

Kudos to you, Carly, for going through the research and thought processes that lead to your decision. In the end, the responsiblity lies with the individual. It would, however, be nice if they had all the facts at their disposal before trying to make an important decision.