Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2001
Abstinence remains preferred course in
sex ed
By Vivi Hoang
Reporter-News Staff Writer
They wage their war using words like "disease,"
"choices" and "abstinence" as weapons.
For teachers in the Abilene Independent School District, the endeavor
to educate students about sexuality is a battle against other,
less discerning influences such as peer pressure, advertisements
and movies. Officials say the district fully integrates aspects
of sex education throughout the school curriculum with counseling,
classes and special programs.
The effort is one way to fight the teen pregnancy rate, which
has declined nationally but largely remained constant in Taylor
County.
Sex education in the AISD focuses on making "good choices"
and on abstinence, telling students to wait until marriage for
sex to avoid a variety of consequences. The curriculum does not
include teaching about contraceptives, which the district leaves
to parents.
"I think our program mirrors our community values,"
said Mary Island, the AISD's assistant superintendent for educational
operations. Abilene is a "child-centered, family-oriented
city, and I think that our district has captured that in its program."
But not everyone thinks leaving birth control out of sex education
is a good idea.
"We would be better off educating them (young people),"
said Carla Holeva, vice president of community affairs for Planned
Parenthood of West Texas. "We're dealing with young people's
health and their bodies, and they need to know how to protect
themselves."
Waging war
As a health teacher at Abilene High School, Renee Barbee works
on the front lines. She devotes three weeks of her class - a required
course - to sex education, covering sexually transmitted diseases
(STDs), the male and female reproductive systems, and childbirth.
In a 2001 survey by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy,
teens said their parents play the most influential role in their
sexual decision-making, followed by their friends. But by turning
to their peers for information about sex, teens run the risk of
relying on misinformation, officials said.
Even students who have undergone childbirth sometimes don't understand
the process, Barbee said.
Another obstacle to sex education is students' attitudes. In the
past five years, Barbee said, she has noticed an increasingly
lackadaisical attitude toward abstinence among students.
"They have the knowledge (from sex education), but so many
of our kids see sex as recreation," she said. "They
don't see it as an act of commitment. That's why we have to break
the cycle."
Fourth-graders learn about puberty in a 40-minute class. Fifth-graders
get a 17-day class in which educators, emphasizing abstinence,
cover issues of respect, goal setting, puberty, childbirth, AIDS
and substance abuse.
The teachers provide parents open access to the class and encourage
students to talk to their parents about values. Ideally, sex education
officials say, parents should be their children's primary educators
about the birds and the bees.
Budget cuts reduced the sex education program after spring 1999
from covering the fifth through the eighth grades to solely the
fifth grade. To fill the gap, AISD, United Way of Abilene and
Pregnancy Counseling Service contracted with the Aim for Success
program, a Dallas-based nonprofit group that teaches abstinence
education.
The group's president spoke to sixth-graders the previous school
year and to eighth-graders in early October. She'll return to
speak to sixth-graders again in the spring.
In addition, counselors work to imbue students, from kindergartners
to 12th-graders, with life skills they can use in situations such
as sexual matters, said David Baum, the AISD's director of guidance
and counseling. Through regular classroom guidance lessons, counselors
address self-esteem, achievement, decision making, goal setting,
communication and responsible behavior.
"In the long run, the students have those healthy, positive
skills," Baum said. "They will be making wise choices.
That contributes to a lot of things, sex education included."
But the program alone can't lower the county's teen pregnancy
rate, he said.
Statistics from 1999, the most recent available, show 6 percent
of the total number of births statewide involved mothers 17 and
younger, according to the Texas Department of Health. For Taylor
County, that rate was 8 percent. In Tom Green and Wichita counties,
where San Angelo and Wichita Falls are the county seats, respectively,
the rate was 7 percent.
A variety of factors contribute to teen pregnancies - and among
them, Baum said, is the lack of information on contraceptive methods.
"I really believe abstinence-based sex education is the correct
approach," he said, "but I don't think you can ignore
advising sexually active teens about protecting themselves and
then anticipate your teen pregnancy rate will decline. I think
you need to do both."
Teaching abstinence
The Texas Legislature endorsed abstinence-based sex education
in May when lawmakers revised a bill with basic guidelines.
According to Senate Bill 11, which focuses on health education,
abstinence should be presented as the preferred choice for unmarried
youth and emphasized as the only sure-fire way to avoid pregnancy,
sexually transmitted diseases and emotional scarring related to
sex.
If the class includes information on contraceptives, the bill
states, teachers must address them in terms of real-life failure
rates, which takes into consideration human error, rather than
theoretical lab rates.
The AISD doesn't include contraception in its sex education curriculum.
That's because it's a personal topic best handled by parents,
officials said.
If students have questions about contraception, teachers "direct
the students back to their parents," Island said. "That
way, parents are able to deal with it as they so choose."
Dr. Michelle Johnson, an Abilene gynecologist and mother of two,
favors the abstinence-based approach. As an analogy, she pointed
to teens and driving, also a potentially dangerous activity.
Parents don't assume their teens will drive too fast and simply
remind them to wear their seat belt and have their insurance card
with them, Johnson said. Instead, parents demand their teens not
speed at all. The same standard should apply to sex, she said.
Johnson also advocated the school district addressing preventive
health care, but agreed it shouldn't be giving advice on birth-control
methods. That should be left to parents and physicians, she said.
Still, not everyone agrees on an exclusively abstinence-based
sex education.
People should be realistic and not expect all young people will
choose to abstain from sex until marriage, Holeva said. Adults
typically don't get married until the age of 25; not many will
wait that long to have sex for the first time, she said.
Jessica George, 14, said she and a group of her friends have pledged
to remain virgins until marriage, but some of her peers have not
chosen to do the same. That's why the Abilene High School freshman
said she would prefer a sex education curriculum that not only
stressed abstinence but also provided contraception information
for those who are sexually active.
"It's important they tell us all our options," she said.
But "abstinence is so much better than getting pregnant or
getting an STD."
The Kaiser Family Foundation, which focuses on health care issues,
issued a national report last year on how schools approach sex
education.
More than half of educators surveyed said their schools take a
"comprehensive approach," encouraging students to wait
to have sex, but teaching contraception to practice safer sex.
One-third of educators reported they taught abstinence only.
In reality, the two approaches lack distinct lines, the report
said. Both still cover the fundamental issues of reproduction,
abstinence and STDs.
The report said 70 percent of students taught abstinence only
felt "very prepared" to postpone sex vs. 59 percent
of students taught a comprehensive approach. Also, 61 percent
of students in comprehensive sex education felt "very prepared"
to use condoms if they had sex vs. 52 percent of their abstinence-only
counterparts.
Elsewhere
Like Abilene, the Wichita Falls and San Angelo school districts
work to lay a solid decision-making foundation in its students
before teaching them the specifics of abstinence-based sex education.
The Wichita Falls ISD has integrated sex education into the curriculum
for fourth- through 12th-graders, said Julie Henderson, the district's
health curriculum specialist.
"TV, ads, commercials - there are a lot of influences, a
lot of pressures that are out there," Henderson said. "Learning
how to handle yourself - all those bits of information we can
give them ahead of time - is going to help them handle it (sex)
in a more mature manner."
The elementary school students get a three- to five-day program,
depending upon their grade level. Middle school students get a
weeklong program. High school students hear a two-day presentation
in health and biology classes.
If students broach the topic of contraceptives, teachers discuss
them in terms of their failure rates, Henderson said. So do educators
in the San Angelo ISD, said Susan Schultz, coordinator of health
services for the district.
Fourth-, fifth- and sixth-graders in San Angelo begin with a "character
education" program that examines traits such as patience
and responsibility each month. Through films, they also learn
about puberty and communicable diseases, Schultz said.
The district will bring in the Aim for Success program for seventh-graders
and Achieve Success - a version of the same program aimed at older
students - for 10th-graders in the spring semester. High school
students learn aspects of sex education through their required
health class and some electives.
Advocates for Youth, a national organization that focuses on the
sexual health of young people, examined European approaches toward
sex education and services in a report last month.
Compared to France, Germany and the Netherlands, the United States
had the worst teen pregnancy, teen birth and abortion rates, and,
in most cases, the worst STD rates. American teens also had more
sexual partners than their European counterparts.
Each of these countries provides consistent sex education and
pursues widespread public education campaigns, the report said.
Through national health insurance, young people can get free or
low-cost contraception.
"In these nations, societal openness and comfort in dealing
with sexuality, including teen sexuality, and pragmatic governmental
policies create greater, easier access to sexual health information
and services for all people, including teens," the report
concluded.
In the United States, the teen pregnancy rate fell 19 percent
between 1991 and 1997. In contrast, Taylor County's stayed fixed;
between 155 and 177 teen-age girls gave birth each year between
1994 and 1999, according to the Texas Department of Health.
Teen-age births in Tom Green County during that time have ranged
between 114 and 141. Wichita County's numbers have declined from
a high of 177 teen pregnancies in 1996 to approximately 135 in
1998 and 1999. Officials attribute that partly to the success
of their sex education program.
"There are no single or simple approaches that will markedly
reduce adolescent pregnancy," said a 1997 report by the National
Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "Because some youths
have sex while others do not, programs need to address both postponing
sex and using contraception."
Contact staff writer Vivi Hoang at 676-6736
or hoangv@abinews.com
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©2001, Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps.
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