Time for comprehensive sex ed in NC!
Submitted by teenadvocatedan on Wed, 01/28/2009 - 8:35am
I am a teenager on the North Carolina Youth Leadership Council (NCYLC) in Chapel hill, NC. This is an exciting few weeks for us, because we are introducing the Healthy Youth Act, a bill that would put comprehensive sex education into schools in grades 7 through 9. Teens are going to be lobbying, attending a press conference, writing letters, talking to their schools, and making phone calls for this cause. I met with a NC senator from Durham to discuss this issue today, and we are working on persuading more state representatives and senators to vote for the Healthy Youth Act. (Click on the link for more info)
NC has the 9th highest teen pregnancy rate, and last year 20,000 teen girls became pregnant. That’s one teen pregnancy every 26 minutes. It is time that the people running our schools stop preaching abstinence, and start giving us good, accurate information about sexual health.
Some of my friends will decide to wait to have sex until they are married, or until they are older. Others are not going to wait, and are sexually active already. However, this is OUR decision to make. It’s not up to our teachers, and it shouldn’t be up to some 60-year-old government official who makes education policy for North Carolina. Teachers and the education department have a duty to empower us with information, and that is why we need to FIGHT for comprehensive sex ed.
Please, join in! get involved! Write to the state legislature, call your senators, attend events, and write blogs. We NEED everyone’s voice. Our generation can come together, and we can make real change happen here in North Carolina. Lets put comprehensive sex ed. back in schools, and pass the Healthy Youth Act.
Tell your State representative to support the Healthy Youth Act!
Cross posted on Amplify (http://www.amplifyyourvoice.org/u/dandaman6007/2009/1/27/Its-time-for-co...)
Thanks for this important post.
Please contact your legislator today. And be prepared. The extremists at the North Carolina Family Policy Council will be fighting tooth and nail to sustain the myth that abstinence-only programs work. Like all good puppets, they have their "experts" and their "studies" to show whatever they've already decided based on what god wants them to do.
Abstinence only sex education does not work. This recent column by Ellen Goodman has a good summary of the research and plenty of facts you can drop into your email to your representative and senator.
NC Family Policy also doesn't want birds to eat on Sunday
I'm not kidding.
Falconry on Sunday is the ruin of the republic! Run for the hills!
Or did God intend for birds to eat on Sunday? Or does that not apply to Seventh-Day Adventist fowl?
Don't think too hard on it. They don't.
Amazing.
These people will stop at nothing. Hunting on Sunday will be the start of the slippery slope that brings down the Empire! People shouldn't be allowed to work or shop or watch football on Sunday either. We animals need our rest. God said so.
Forgotten Art
Good post. While they are at it, I wish they would throw in a little romance education. It is primed for a comeback.
I love your comment.
But I wonder why you think romance is primed for a comeback?
Progressive Democrats of North Carolina
It's the new 50s.
Back when romance was king. Only now it's king AND queen.
I think we're in for a new era of retro ... trying to recreate the illusion of mom, the flag, and apple pie. It never existed as a monolith. Ward Cleavers had affairs and so did the Junes.
It's never all good or bad. It's just which way we're tilting. I'm willing to tilt retro. Always have.
It's what's missing
If you look at our culture, we have virtually eliminated courtship. Relationships materialize like going to a fast food restaurant. I think that our kids today are kind of hungry for a more cultivated fare with a little more emotion than they are permitted this day and time. Sure, there will be types that are cynical about this, but I see how our children watch these old movies like "The Egg and I" or "Pillow Talk". They are intrigued by how these relationships evolve into romance.
Absolutely
The media over the past 50 years have fundamentally altered our conceptions of time. This what the topic of my masters' research. Media-immersed kids have been barraged by a view of relationships unfolding in the 20 minutes of a sitcom (after taking out time for commercials). But many also know instinctively that something's out of balance, hence their fascination with a kinder, gentler view of how long things should take.
What is the current law?
I'm embarrassed to be ignorant of this, but what is the current law in NC about sex education in schools? Who decides what kind of sex education will be taught? The article at your link indicates New Hanover County now offers a two-track program, where parents can choose whether their children will have abstinence-only or abstinence based comprehensive sex education. Is there a reason why all schools could not offer the same options now?
The current law
The current law in NC is that all schools must teach abstinence only, except when the school board decides to have a public hearing. IF the school board can get it passed, then they are allowed to teach comprehensive sex education.
The New Hanover county schools have a great system, so that's why we decided to make the Healthy Youth act model their program. If the bill passes, then all schools would offer the same program.
Thanks!
Check out Amplify, youth driven community dedicated to changing society's dysfunctional approach to sexual health issues
www.amplifyyourvoice.org
Honestly the US needs to have
Honestly the US needs to have better sex ed all over and in every state, i know in the UK they get london escorts to come to their schools for lectures once in a while i mean what better person to give you advice on sex then a professional.