mattskramer
Senior Member
Oh. I am so tired of this debate. I have a general understanding of the general perspective of both sides.
On one side you have those who advocate abstinence based sex education. They want a "just say no" approach - or something close to it. Their belief is that if you spend much time teaching sex, beyond focusing on being celibate until marriage & monogamous in marriage, then you are encouraging sex - at least to a greater degree than if you kept the focus on abstinence.
On the other side you have those who advocate comprehensive sex education. Beyond informing students about abstinence. They want to teach them about contraception and other sex-related subjects. Their belief is that some students will not obey if they are simply told to not have sex. Therefore, kids should be informed about the various ways to have sex - with the risks and rewards involved - with the assumption that some kids will take risks and have sex anyway.
It seems as though the only way to resolve this debate is to have a controlled study. Select 2 sets of relatively similar communities. Within the school districts of some communities, have sex education be abstinence based. In the other set, have sex education be comprehensive. After a few years investigate the students who had attended the schools and compare them. Which ones are well adjusted and which one have sex-related problems?
On one side you have those who advocate abstinence based sex education. They want a "just say no" approach - or something close to it. Their belief is that if you spend much time teaching sex, beyond focusing on being celibate until marriage & monogamous in marriage, then you are encouraging sex - at least to a greater degree than if you kept the focus on abstinence.
On the other side you have those who advocate comprehensive sex education. Beyond informing students about abstinence. They want to teach them about contraception and other sex-related subjects. Their belief is that some students will not obey if they are simply told to not have sex. Therefore, kids should be informed about the various ways to have sex - with the risks and rewards involved - with the assumption that some kids will take risks and have sex anyway.
It seems as though the only way to resolve this debate is to have a controlled study. Select 2 sets of relatively similar communities. Within the school districts of some communities, have sex education be abstinence based. In the other set, have sex education be comprehensive. After a few years investigate the students who had attended the schools and compare them. Which ones are well adjusted and which one have sex-related problems?