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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > July > 22 > Entry
Real sex ed makes a difference
Two counties, next to each other, with nearly identical demographics — numbers that would suggest a high teen pregnancy rate.
One county is highest in South Carolina for teen pregnancy. The other is the lowest.
What’s the difference? One county has had a comprehensive sex education program for 24 years.
This fascinating story is on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal. I think you may have the be a subscriber to access the story, but here’s a taste:
One explanation for how Bamberg County has performed so well is one of the nation’s most intensive and long-running programs to prevent teen pregnancy. Its director, a 47-year-old former volleyball coach named Michelle Nimmons, leads an eight-person staff at the Denmark-Olar Teen Life Center in Denmark, one of the county’s two central towns.
They bombard boys and girls with hours of sex-education classes, “life skills” sessions to teach self-esteem and saying no to sex, practical guidance on contraception and other outreach programs that take place as often as basketball or track practice.
While many schools offer sex-education classes for just a few hours a year, often after school, scarcely a day goes by here without a class, one-on-one counseling session, or a free dinner for parents and their kids. Classes and individual counseling sessions are integrated into the school curriculum and meet during the school day.
Meanwhile, the federal government today exclusively encourages “abstinence only” sex education, which critics argue are far less effective.
Is this South Carolina example an argument for change?
Permalink | Comments (2) | Categories: Sex Education
Comments
By Rick
July 23, 2006 12:23 PM | Link to this
Scott, it is my understanding that abstinence only programs usually have better results.By Oldprof
July 23, 2006 10:06 AM | Link to this
An argument? No, an indictment of those who oppose basing education policy on “what works” as opposed to “what we want.” Again and again, policy-makers discard education that’s effective and implement programs that aren’t—and then attempt to justify their meddling by saying “well, even if it didn’t work the way we’d intended, it inspired reform elsewhere.” We’ve known for years now that a comphrehensive, aggressive program of sex ed. reduces teen pregnancy (it worked in Minneapolis-St. Paul in the 80s, already); unfortunately too many of our religious leaders and right-wing politicians think that ignorance is superior to complete information in this and other cases.