Here is a topic where the government trips, stumbles and falls over its feet most of the time (from today's Washington Post):
In the seven years since their schools began teaching abstinence-only, young people here have been anything but abstinent. Teen pregnancy rates in the state remain above the national average, and Lubbock County consistently has one of the highest rates in the state. In addition, the number of Texas youths with sexually transmitted diseases has risen steadily.
At the same time, many parents lack the time or expertise to provide adequate guidance. Teachers complain that even if the law did not limit what they could teach, the school day already is packed. And young people are living in a culture that features both regular church attendance and provocative music videos.
Now, a small group of students is revolting against the abstinence-only curriculum.
"The current policies are obviously ineffective," said Corey Nichols, 17, who, as mayor of the Lubbock Youth Commission, is leading a push for a more comprehensive program. "I think abstinence is wonderful; as a commission we back abstinence. But when you look at the numbers, you see the abstinence curriculum fails."
Risk and Routine
Lubbock is a flat, dusty farming community on the western edge of the Bible Belt, where liquor is prohibited and high school football is worshipped. Bush received his largest winning percentage in Lubbock's congressional district in the 2000 presidential election, and local lore holds that the city has more churches per capita than any other in the nation.
It would seem fertile ground for abstinence-only education.
"I really believe that's the way to go," said Cindy Wright, the mother of two girls. "The Bible says you are supposed to get married before you consummate a relationship. That may not be very popular, but I don't think teaching anything other than abstinence is right."
Since the abstinence-only curriculum began in 1995, teen pregnancy rates have fallen in Texas generally -- and Lubbock County specifically -- but not as dramatically as for the nation as a whole. Meanwhile, rates of sexually transmitted diseases have soared.
In 1996, the last year for which national figures are available, the U.S. teen pregnancy rate was 38 out of every 1,000 girls; Texas's rate was 40 per 1,000 and Lubbock County's was 43. In subsequent years, as the national and state rates inched steadily downward, Lubbock's figures fluctuated.
By 2000, the statewide teen pregnancy rate had dropped to 33 per 1,000; Lubbock County reported a rate of 42.4, said Jane Tustin, health services coordinator for the Lubbock Independent School District.
Over the last decade, as rates for gonorrhea and chlamydia have fallen nationally, Lubbock County has confronted an epidemic. In 2000, fewer than 150 cases of gonorrhea were reported nationally for every 100,000 people. Lubbock County reported double that, with the highest number of cases in people between the ages of 15 and 20. |
