[Wayne Luke]

Originally Posted by GSeybold

I see that sex ed so far hasn't done a whole hell of a lot of good?

Really?

Between 1991 and 2002, teen pregnancy rates dropped 28% due to sex education courses.

Teen abortion rates dropped 50% from their peak in 1988.

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/2006/09/12/USTPstats.pdf

We now have Sarah Palin's 18 year old daughter going on the news circuit saying that Abstinence does not work. This is a program advocated by her parents and taught in her home and yet she became pregnant as a teen. She isn't advocating that teens give up sex because she feels that it is unrealistic. She is advocating that they put off pregnancy by doing things smart and educated. Kids need to be educated about this. Not every teen has a stay at home parent that they can talk to about these things. Many parents work long hours and multiple jobs. Its worse in poorer areas where teen pregnancy rates are higher. Education and allowing these kids to make the proper decisions is the only way.

History has shown that parents do not teach this properly. There are no parenting classes or licenses and this is one thing that people don't like talking about. Sex and Drugs are often glossed over by parents because they might get embarrassed talking about it. Until all parents start taking the future of their children seriously and talk about these things openly and often then it needs to be taught somewhere and that place is school.

If you're teaching your children about these things than that is good. You have a head start. You won't have to worry about them learning anything new in school and they are protected. They will have an open enough relationship to ask you to help with Birth Control when the time comes that they feel ready. However there are close to 100 million children in the United States. You can't teach them all and probably less than 10% will learn what they need to know in the home. They can learn in school, they can learn it on free porn sites on the Internet or they will learn it in their neighbor's bed. They will learn it somewhere.