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WTF is that, Tricky??

More than ever, I'm convinced Gbaji just Googles terms and links to the sites without actually opening and reading them. How else would you explain linking to a curriculum espousing abstinence as the "best choice for teens" and the "only 100% sure method" for STD/pregnancy prevention and claim it proves a Liberal agenda to remove mention of abstinence from the classroom?

Ok. I honestly don't know how that happened. When I did a search for the word abstinence, the first instance it found was in the list of pregnancy avoidance techniques discussing the rythym method (go figure).

So there is a section on it. Great. However, homosexuality is still covered in much greater detail and in more sections. So, waaaay down in section 12, we'll get around to discussing abstinence, after we've already talked about sexual identity (which assumes sexual activity to some degree), and after we've then talked at length about the mechanics of sex, and the mechanics of pregnancy, and then talked some more about homosexuality.


Again. It's about *how* the curriculum is presented. To what degree are different ideas presented? Clearly, this curriculum focuses far more on ensuring that kids think homosexuality is ok (not that I'm disagreeing with that position), then it does on re-inforcing the idea that they should think long and hard about having sex (hehe).


What we're seeing is curriculum that meets the "letter of expectations", in terms of abstinence education. In some cases, it's no more then that though...

Um, yeah, cuz, you know, it's LOGICAL to discuss pregnancy prevention before you actually discuss the mechanics of reproduction. Duh.

Let's examine the flow of the curriculum to see if it would be logical to discuss abstinence at an earlier point:

Grade 8 Health Education Curriculum - Revised
FAMILY LIFE AND HUMAN SEXUALITY

Content Outline
I. Define Terms Related to Human Sexuality
A. What is Human Sexuality?
B. What is Sexual Identity?
1. Gender Identity:
2. Gender Role:
3. Sexual Orientation:
a. Heterosexual Or “Straight”
b. Homosexual or Gay
c. Lesbian refers to women who are homosexual.
d. Bisexual or “Bi”

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: there has been no discussion of reproductive mechanics, pregnancy, or disease as of yet, therefore "abstinence" is an irrelevent concept. However, I highly suspect "abstinence" is one of the concepts defined in the very first segment, where definitions are provided.)

II. STEREOTYPING AND GENERALIZATIONS REGARDING SEXUAL IDENTITY
A. Define stereotyping
B. Examples of Stereotyping and Generalizations
C. Factors That Influence Stereotyping
D. Acceptance of Differences

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: Nor is there anything in this section which would lead to any sort of topical discussion of abstinence.)

III. Examine Myths and Facts About Human Sexuality
A. Myths regarding pregnancy
B. Myths regarding sexual orientation
C. Other
<snip>
3. Myth: You are not really a man or woman until you have sex.
Fact: Sometimes it is more difficult to say no than yes. It is more responsible
and adult-like to wait until you are ready to handle the consequences.

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: while the word "abstinence" is not used, the concept is clearly introduced in this section, and does not mean that just because the word abstinence is not used in the outline notes it is not used in the lecture itself.)

IV. CULTURAL AND FAMILY BELIEFS CAN AFFECT RELATIONSHIPS AND
MARRIAGE
A. Possible Effects of Cultural Factors
B. Possible Affects of Religious Beliefs
<snip>
3. different religions take different stands on sexual behaviors and there are even
different views among people of the same religion
C. Other Factors That May Affect Relationships
D. Examples of Problems Created by Contrasting Values/Beliefs
E. Ways to Manage Problems Created By Contrasting Values

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: It is entirely likely that abstinence is discussed during section B, as it tends to be a concept that is strongly associated with religious influences on sexual expression.)

V. Explore the Effect of Family Stress and Divorce on the Family and Society
A. Divorce and/or separation
B. Effect of family stress and separation/divorce on the family
C. Effect of family stress and separation/divorce on society

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: No place in this section is abstinence really an issue)

VI. Describe the Process of Pregnancy and Birth, Recognizing the Importance of Prenatal Care for Mother and Fetus
A. Fertilization
B. Embryo
C. Fetus
D. Birth

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: This section is on pregnancy, not pregnancy prevention, therefore abstinence is, once again, not topical.)

VII. Discuss the Effects of Hormonal Changes On the Body and Behavior Throughout the Life Cycle
A. Review hormonal changes in the male at puberty
B. Hormonal changes in the female at puberty
C. Hormonal fluctuations throughout the life cycle

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: As with pregnancy, there is no discussion in this chapter on prevention of either pregnancy or disease, therefore, again, abstinence is not relevent.)


VIII. Peer Pressure and Other Factors That Can Influence Decisions Regarding Sexual Behavior
A. Peer pressure
B. Other factors
C. Sifting through all the influences
1. only you can decide what is best for you
2. a decision that should be based on more than passion
3. deciding what is right for you is a tough decision, but an important one

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: Any assumption that abstinence is not discussed as one of the decisions that may be influenced by peer and social pressures would be just plain ignorant.)

IX. Analyze Consequence of Sexual Activity
A. Negative feelings about self
B. Feelings others may hold
C. Pregnancy
D. Sexually transmitted diseases
E. Long-term loving relationship
1. rare among teens
2. promises before sexual activity are many times forgotten afterward
F. Positive consequences
1. there are positive consequences of sexual activity for adults, but for most
teens the negative results far outweigh the positive

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: As with the previous section, the likelihood that abstinence ISN'T addressed here, especially in sections E and F, falls somewhere in the realm of absurdly small.)

X. Review the Social, Emotional and Economic Impact of Teenage Parenting
A. Social
B. Economic
C. Emotional

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: This section is pretty much nothing but building the case for abstinence, as the message boils down to "teen pregnancy = BAD")

XI. Review How Family Values, Culture, Religious Views and Other Factors May Influence Family Planning
A. Define family planning
B. Family values
C. Cultural factors
D. Religious views
1. use of birth control methods
2. ostracized from the church for using certain methods
E. Other factors

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: Abstinence is almost certainly mentioned as being the one method of contraception universally approved by all religious institutions in Section D.)

XII. Abstinence
A. Define and describe
B. Only 100% effective means of pregnancy prevention
C. Only 100% effective means of preventing sexually transmitted diseases
D. Preservation of self-concept/self-esteem
1. you decide when and if you want to become sexually active
2. consider the consequences and you make a decision
3. only you are responsible for your own behavior
E. Before marriage and for teens it is the best choice

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: Oh, looky! Only 13 sections in the "Human Sexuality" Outline and Abstinence gets one all to its very self, near the end, which is quite possibly one of the most memorable places to put it! Homosexuality did not get a whole section to itself, it was a subheading under "Sexual Identity." There goes your case, Gbaji.)

XIII. Identify and Describe Methods of Pregnancy Prevention
A. Abstinence
B. Periodic abstinence (rhythm method)
C. Withdrawal
D. Barrier methods
E. Birth control pills
F. Implantable hormone (Norplant)
G. Injectable hormone (DES)
H. Intra uterine devices (IUD)
I. Surgical methods

(EDITORIAL COMMENT: Oh, and check this out...not only is abstinence mentioned again, despite just having had a whole section devoted to it by itself, but it is mentioned FIRST AND FOREMOST in the discussion of pregnancy prevention.)

Yeah, Gbaji, I can see your point...there's no room in this outline for abstinence to play a prominent role at ALL.




Absolutely untrue, which you would know if you actually spent some time thinking about the thing instead of trying desperately to interpret it in a way that will justify a patently false statement that you have been called on.



I repeat, you are grasping. And you aren't coming up with anything substantial. You made a bullsh[/i]it claim, and you were called on it, and no amount of subsequent spinning is going to change the fact that your claim was bullsh[i]it. You are just embarrassing yourself.

OT



You know what they call people who use the rythem method right?






















Parents

That's a flawed conclusion. Since you don't know what the deathrate of children was before the advent of most modern birth control (Going all the way back to times when they didn't record sterile births, mid-term sill-births and/or any other type of birth that was considered non-viable enough to put on the spotty records they actually had). You can't really say there was a ten-fold increase, can you.

The advent of modern medicine, sanitation and less hostile environments for parents is more likely to have caused this "ten-fold" increase than anything birth-control can account for.

That is to say that less babies are dying because they are treated for diseases rather than left to die of disease or infections.

Edited, Tue Oct 18 04:16:46 2005 by Diveos

Leaving aside the "nearly universal availability of abortion" claim when there are so many actual restrictions on abortion, your "10 fold increase" is actually a meaningless number in its present context.

After all, how much has the overall population increased since this "10 fold" increase started being measured? 5X? 10X? 25X?

If the NUMBER of unwanted children has increased by 10x, but the overall population has increased by 10x, then the RATE of unwanted children is actually the same. If the number of unwanted children has increased by a factor of 10, and the population has increased by a factor of more than 10, then the RATE of undesired children has actually decreased. If the number of unwanted CHILDREN has increased 10X, but the number of people having unmarried sex has increased 100X, then obviously birth control education is doing its job and that without it, the number of unwanted children would be much higher.

So just saying there has been a "10 fold increase" in unwanted children is meaningless. Put it in context to the growth of the overall population. Then put THAT in context to what the numbers would be if there WEREN'T education about contraception available to our children.

Anyone can throw a number out there and make it sound important. But unless it's put into an actual context, it's just a meaningless number.



Edited, Tue Oct 18 04:34:47 2005 by Ambrya