Federally funded sexual abstinence programs lie to kids

If parents took a more active role in educating their children, these types of issues would never come up. It is because many parents now expect the school to be an equal partner in the rearing of their children that educators must take on these parental duties.

Other than the Washinton Post article, does anyone have a link to the actual curricullum in question or where the Post did it's research that we can see for ourselves that these lies are indeed being used?

I agree. Parents should definitely be involved so that they can point out to their kids that the government lies to them.

I agree that parents must take a more active role, but I fear that these
issues will come up anyway.

The role of parents is not to point out that the government lies to them,
but to give them the facts as best they can. More importantly, their role
is to teach their children to think for themselves, value the truth, and
learn how to research. That will make it more difficult for anyone to
deceive them.

I may be the only one to admit to this but, these kids we are talking about, in all probility, could give me (and the teachers) more facts/knowledge re human sexuality then I ever had.

OK, my comment was pretty smart-assed.

But the fact that parents need to be involved does not mean that parents need to be combating lies taught their kids.

Two separate issues, here.

I doubt your the only to to admit that fact. I can still remember telling my girls the facts of life when they barely in their teens (10, 13) and both of them already knew quite a bit already. But there was still things they needed to know that I feel only their mother (or another close relative or caregiver in other cases) could tell them. I did the best I could to instill in them all emotional and physical trouble they will have in giving themselves away too cheaply. I think for the most part it did some good but I couldn't account for everything and kids don't always listen to anyone, schoolteachers or parents.

I hope that schools and free health departments are still allowed to give away protection and other services like that. I feel they have been helpful for those who after all the advice of abstaining don't abstain and can still get protection regardless of how their parents feel about it. Maybe all this is just talk and won't ever really turn into practice.

Dys~
They sure as hell have a lot more of it coming at them than we ever had.

I know that at ten my youngest had a lot of sexual data, but was still
confused about it and had some outrageous misunderstandings. I did my
best to clarify things, but I don't think "the light went on" for another
couple of years. Now he's sixteen and is, of course, far beyond learning
anything from his (tragically unhip) dad.

revel~
looks like we were both thinking the same thing at the same time!

The public schools of this nation in many instances can't or don't teach children the basics. Reading, writing and arithmetic. Now you expect them to get it right when it comes to sex education. It is time the educators of this nation leave the parenting to the parents and get back to the function they were supposed to perform..

I think you are selling the public education a little short. I think they have done in a good job in educating about the risks of un safe sex and a good job about the harmful effects of abuse of drugs.

Parents still have to do their job too and if it is a religious household, that comes into the equation.

But after all is said and done, when two young teenagers are alone (or not alone but out of supervision of adults) it is up to those two to make decisions. If they decide to have sex even though their parents have told them about all the harmful effects of having a sexual life too early or with multiple partners, wouldn't it be better that they have some kind of protection in that critical moment?

yea, parents will pick up on that sort of thing I guess.

The Bush administration has a distressing habit of espousing and disseminating "goals-oriented" science.

http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20040308&c=1&s=kennedy

http://democrats.reform.house.gov/features/politics_and_science/index.htm

http://64.233.161.104/search?q=cache:cvm_cq_q6q0J:www.house.gov/reform/min/politicsandscience/pdfs/pdf_politics_and_science_rep.pdf+Bush+Administration+Science&hl=en&start=3