Sixteen states have opted out of George Bush's faith based abstinence only health education curriculum because it is a failure. A $250 million a year failure. Studies have shown that it doesn't prevent teen pregnancy or reduce premarital sex. In fact it is oppressive towards LGBT youth, fails to teach teens responsible behavior, educate them about sexual health and harms some students.
Many young people don't have parents who sit down with them and have "the talk." For these young people school health education curricula are their source for reliable and important education. Too many are turning to the internet to fill the gap and we all know what happens anytime you insert the word "sex" into a Goggle or Yahoo search query.
Pennsylvania is NOT one of the 16 states who have opted out. Why is Gov. Rendell hesitating on this important issue? Gloria Perlis has described the Governor's approach as "being as effective as that condom which remained in the side table drawer." Unfortunately our youth aren't being taught about condoms. Do some of them even get the joke? No. We are failing them and Pennsylvania gets a "F" in health education as a result.
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