Abstaining From Common Sense: A Persuasive Essay on Why Abstinence Education Should Not Be Taught In Schools
In the U.S. the states with the highest teen birth rates all either do not mandate sex education or stress abstinence-only education (Lowen). Almost all studies on teens health indicate that abstinence only programs should not be used in schools. According to Leslie Kantor’s article, “Abstinence-only Education Violating Students' Rights to Health Information,” the 1996 Welfare Reform bill contained a provision that gave 50 million dollars a year to abstinence only education. In 2006 George Bush expanded abstinence education’s budget to 206 million dollars, vowing to “elevate abstinence education from an afterthought to an urgent goal.” …show more content…
In Leslie Kantor’s 2008 article on abstinence education, she discusses several studies on programs that include information on both abstinence as well as contraception and sexually transmitted disease protection. These studies have reported that the students in these wait longer before having sex, use condoms and birth control, and have less sexual partners. This shows students who are given more information on sex practice abstinence longer than their abstinence-only counterparts. Overall, comprehensive education that includes information on abstinence is more impacting than abstinence-only education. Another example of abstinence education not giving accurate information is in a study by representative Henry A. Waxman, which found that over 80% of federally funded abstinence programs distort information. Overall, Abstinence programs do not have strict curriculum guidelines that prevent the distortion of information. This leaves room for educators to put in their own ideas on sexuallity into classes and does not mandate for an informational learning environment. In summary, abstinence education is not more effective than comprehensive education, nor does it have intact guidelines on how truthful the information it is teaching must be, making abstinence only programs an unsuitable form of …show more content…
Although there are arguments that censored abstinence-only education is beneficial, The National Abstinence Association believes that all youth-serving organizations should give accurate information about pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted diseases. This shows that if these guidelines are followed, abstinence education is factually correct, yet often times this is not true. Even though the National Abstinence Association supports factual information, often times it is not used in abstinence education classes. A second argument in favor of abstinence education is from Linda Lowen’s 2014 article on the pros and cons of abstinence education, she writes, “Abstinence from sex is the only form of pregnancy prevention that is 100% effective. Every method of contraception has a risk of failure however small, but a teen who practices abstinence will never become pregnant”. While this is an admirable way to look at things, it is not logical to expect teenagers to follow this. Simply telling teenagers that abstinence is the only way to be protected is not going to convince them to not have sex, and it will make them more vulnerable to the risk of pregnancy and std’s when they
In the U.S. the states with the highest teen birth rates all either do not mandate sex education or stress abstinence-only education (Lowen). Almost all studies on teens health indicate that abstinence only programs should not be used in schools. According to Leslie Kantor’s article, “Abstinence-only Education Violating Students' Rights to Health Information,” the 1996 Welfare Reform bill contained a provision that gave 50 million dollars a year to abstinence only education. In 2006 George Bush expanded abstinence education’s budget to 206 million dollars, vowing to “elevate abstinence education from an afterthought to an urgent goal.” …show more content…
In Leslie Kantor’s 2008 article on abstinence education, she discusses several studies on programs that include information on both abstinence as well as contraception and sexually transmitted disease protection. These studies have reported that the students in these wait longer before having sex, use condoms and birth control, and have less sexual partners. This shows students who are given more information on sex practice abstinence longer than their abstinence-only counterparts. Overall, comprehensive education that includes information on abstinence is more impacting than abstinence-only education. Another example of abstinence education not giving accurate information is in a study by representative Henry A. Waxman, which found that over 80% of federally funded abstinence programs distort information. Overall, Abstinence programs do not have strict curriculum guidelines that prevent the distortion of information. This leaves room for educators to put in their own ideas on sexuallity into classes and does not mandate for an informational learning environment. In summary, abstinence education is not more effective than comprehensive education, nor does it have intact guidelines on how truthful the information it is teaching must be, making abstinence only programs an unsuitable form of …show more content…
Although there are arguments that censored abstinence-only education is beneficial, The National Abstinence Association believes that all youth-serving organizations should give accurate information about pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted diseases. This shows that if these guidelines are followed, abstinence education is factually correct, yet often times this is not true. Even though the National Abstinence Association supports factual information, often times it is not used in abstinence education classes. A second argument in favor of abstinence education is from Linda Lowen’s 2014 article on the pros and cons of abstinence education, she writes, “Abstinence from sex is the only form of pregnancy prevention that is 100% effective. Every method of contraception has a risk of failure however small, but a teen who practices abstinence will never become pregnant”. While this is an admirable way to look at things, it is not logical to expect teenagers to follow this. Simply telling teenagers that abstinence is the only way to be protected is not going to convince them to not have sex, and it will make them more vulnerable to the risk of pregnancy and std’s when they