In high schools all around the world kids are going through sex education. In these sex education classes kids learn how to stay abstinent, but they don’t learn how to be safe if they do have sex before marriage. Let’s face it most high school students don’t wait until marriage to have sex anymore. If abstinence is the only thing that they’re taught, then when they have the chance to have sex they won’t be prepared with the proper knowledge of how to protect themselves from teen pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases or sexually transmitted infections. There is a better method though to preparing kids, its abstinence plus. Abstinence plus is basically like sex education but it better prepares for choices you might make about sex. It shows you what you can do to stay safe, and how you can protect yourself from sexually transmitted diseases, or sexually transmitted infections.
I went to Carl Junction and they taught us abstinence, they didn’t give us another option at all, it was just remaining abstinent until marriage so that you don’t get pregnant. This wasn’t the smart thing to do; they didn’t give us an alternative. If they had taught us alternatives then maybe my class wouldn’t have graduated with 15 girls pregnant or have had kids. The abstinence plus program shows you how to do just that, it takes the normal abstinence only approach but spins it to making sure that you are safe. They do this by telling you about condoms, and making sure you can get checks for yourself.
Let’s face it we were all at one point a hormone crazed high school students. You didn’t care what your parents said about anything, if you wanted to be alone with your girlfriend or boyfriend you were going to be. You could always get protection from the nearest gas station bathroom for fifty cents. You might not have thought about consequences about your actions. At least you were being safe right? That’s what abstinence plus is all about, showing you the alternatives. As long as you are safe you’re and emotionally and physically mature you have the right to be sexually active. I found on a website that with abstinence plus a third of students had sex within 24 months. But with abstinence only 42 percent had sex within 24 months.
I can see why a lot of parents prefer their kids learning about abstinence only, in today’s world its scary how many diseases you can get from sex. No parent wants that for their child, in that aspect abstinence only is a great method because it only shows you how to stay safe. Abstinence only can work if you do it correctly as shown on this website talking about abstinence only. It shows you that if both people remain abstinent until marriage then you have no chance of getting a sexually transmitted disease. Abstinence only shows that if you don’t want to get pregnant before marriage then the best way to do that is to not have sex. If you are safe then you don’t have to worry about any of that.
So abstinence plus is "safe-sex" if that is what I understand. Absitnence plus teaches you sex education, the use of condoms and STD checks. Yet there really is no such thing as "safe-sex". Condoms break, resulting in pregnancy and sexually transmitted disease. As a parent, yes I am one, I understand the difficulty in teaching "abstinence" in our society today. With peer pressure, and the acceptance of pre-maritial sex and multiple partners it is a tough point to make. The concept of "abstinence" was perhaps somewhat easier when it was taught from a biblical perspective in a god-fearing society. Today it is a much too accepted practice to condone just being "safe". There is no embarrasment for un-wed mothers, or for the young men responsible for these girls becoming pregnant. There is no shame or discomfort associated with multiple sex partners before a young person is 18 years old. I'm not trying to be argumentative or overly critical. Until I read your post I had not heard the term "absitinence plus" and it sounds like a "safe-sex" approach to me. Initially presenting abstinence, but allowing for other choices.
ReplyDeleteI feel that abstinence plus is the smarter way for schools (and parents) to teach kids about sex. Just telling them to not have sex before marriage and showing them some pictures of diseases won't stop people from having sex. Just look at most high schools now. When I graduated, 5 girls in my senior class were pregnant and numerous others were pregnant in the lower classes as well, even the incoming freshmen. It's a sign that the current type of sex education is not working...so why are we still teaching it?
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