Metropolis Reality Forums - Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives

Sponsored by: The Fans!

Welcome, Guest. Please Login or Register.
Nov 25^th, 2024, 9:55pm

Upcoming Premiere Dates:
Survivor 23, Season premiere
Thursday, September 14 (8:00-9:30 PM, ET/PT) on CBS

Metropolis Reality Forums Ť Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives ť

   Metropolis Reality Forums
   Off-Topic Forums
   In the News (Moderators: lakelady, yesteach, MediaScribe, Bumper, Isle_be_back)
   Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives

Previous topic | New Topic | Next topic »

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic

Author

Topic: Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives (Read 179 times)

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives
« on: Nov 6^th, 2004, 11:09am »

Quote

Modify

Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptives
Fri Nov 5, 7:07 PM ET
By Jon Herskovitz

DALLAS (Reuters) - Texas education officials on Friday approved health textbooks for high school students that extol the virtues of sexual abstinence but only make passing mention of contraceptives, which critics say violates state regulations and endangers the health of teens.

The battle in Texas has national implications because the state is the second-biggest market for textbooks in the United States. Books approved by the state's school board are typically marketed nationally.

The 15-member Texas Board of Education approved four books, all of which promote a birth control program based on abstinence. Three make no mention of contraceptives, while one makes passing references to condoms.

State regulations require information on contraceptives to be included in the sexual education curriculum, but board members said the books meet state standards because contraceptives are mentioned in separate supplements or in the teacher's edition.

Critics said the board bowed to social conservatives and their approval will leave Texas teens with inadequate information about their health.

"Instead of doing the responsible thing and providing high school students with life-saving information about sex and health, the Board of Education has left them to fend for themselves and get information from each other and sources like the Internet and MTV," said Samantha Smoot, president of the Texas Freedom Network, which battles social conservatives.

The texts are likely to appear in classrooms in August 2005 -- where they could be the standard text for about 10 years. The publishers of the books are Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Glencoe/McGraw Hill and Thomson Delmar Learning, which is owned by the Thomson Corp . Holt is owned by Reed Elsevier PLC and Reed Elsevier NV .

Many current textbooks in Texas have more information on contraceptives than the ones the board approved.

Surveys indicate a wide majority of U.S. parents support a strong abstinence message to teens in sex education.

According to Centers for Disease Control figures, Texas has been among the top five states in the country for teenage pregnancies for several years.

When he was governor of Texas, George W. Bush pushed for an abstinence-based sexual education curriculum.

The board also asked on Friday for a change in the definition of marriage for separate middle school health books after a conservative member of the board said new language was needed to replace code words she thought promoted a homosexual agenda.

Board member Terri Leo, a Republican, said terms such as "couples" and "adults" should be replaced with terms such as: husband, wife, mother and father. She wanted to make sure the textbooks did not advocate same-sex marriage.

The board approve language saying: "Marriage is a life-long union between a husband and wife."

The board rejected a proposal from Leo asking for language saying: "homosexuals, lesbians and bisexuals as a group are more prone to self-destructive behavior like depression, illegal drug use and suicide."

IP Logged

Rupey
ForumsNet Member

Can't top Pearl Islands!

Posts: 2147

Re: Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptiv
« Reply #1 on: Nov 6^th, 2004, 6:58pm »

Quote

Modify

This hardly surprises me. Texas is overall a conservative state. Ideally, I believe that sex education should begin in the home with the parents having honest, open discussions with their children. In this day and age though, I know that's not going to happen across the board.

IP Logged

"Lord, please make me the person my dog thinks I am."

AoM
ForumsNet Member

Posts: 2277

Re: Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptiv
« Reply #2 on: Nov 9^th, 2004, 7:52pm »

Quote

Modify

Agreed. Sex education should be taught at home. The mechanics of sex can be taught in school, but parents need to step up and take responsibility here too.

That being said, the mechanics of sex would hardly be complete without a chapter on how and why the pill works, vasectomies, tubal ligations etc.

But the brunt should be on the parents

IP Logged

Rhune
ForumsNet Administrator

Gender:

Posts: 292

Re: Texas Sex-Ed Texts Barely Mention Contraceptiv
« Reply #3 on: Nov 10^th, 2004, 11:53am »

Quote

Modify

Sex edxucation *should* be taught at home, but the fact is that it isn't in many homes and somewhere along the way the schools made a decision to take up this burden. If they are going to take this task on, I feel they have a right and a responsibility to present it fairly and with all options available. It is absolutely unrealistic to believe that presenting an abstinece based course with no mention of contraceptives will stop horny teenagers from wanting to get laid. I have no problems with putting the primary emphasis on abstinence and applaud those that choose to follow that course, but many will not be abstinent and they have a right to know what's available to them, to protect their lives in the process.

« Last Edit: Nov 10^th, 2004, 11:54am by Rhune »

IP Logged

Pages: 1

Add Poll

Notify of replies

Send Topic


Previous topic \| New Topic \| Next topic »