Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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In addition to topics that are routinely covered in sexu-
40
ality education classes—such as the basics of reproduc-
tion, HIV and STDs, and abstinence—parents want
schools to cover topics often perceived to be controver-
20 sial by school administrators and teachers. Kaiser found
that at least three-quarters of parents say that sexuality
0 education classes should cover how to use condoms and
Northeast South Midwest West
other forms of birth control, abortion, sexual orienta-
COMPREHENSIVE ABSTINENCE-PLUS ABSTINENCE- ONLY tion, pressures to have sex and the emotional conse-
Source: Landy DJ, Kaeser L and Richards CL, Abstinence promotion and the quences of having sex. Three in four parents believe
provision of information about contraception in public school district sexuality
education policies, Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 31(6):280–286. that these topics should be “discussed in a way that
provides a fair and balanced presentation of the facts
and different views in society.” Yet most of these topics
tend to be the very ones that teachers shy away from or
Even if teachers are allowed to cover these sensitive top- are prohibited from teaching. Finally, most parents
ics, they may avoid them because they fear adverse com- believe that the amount of time being spent on sexual-
munity reaction; more than one-third report such con- ity education should be significantly expanded.
cerns. All in all, these pressures and limitations lead one
in four teachers to believe that they are not meeting their
students’ needs for information. A similar percentage of
fifth- and sixth-grade teachers who teach sexuality educa- THINKING VS. DOING
tion believe that schools are not doing enough to prepare
There is a large gap between what teachers think
students for puberty or to deal with pressures and deci-
should be taught and what they teach when it comes to
sions regarding sexual activity. Finally, a study published
birth control, abortion and sexual orientation.
last year by the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention found that a significant proportion of health 100
educators in secondary schools want additional training
in the areas of pregnancy, STD and HIV prevention. 90
80
Parents 70
Most parents (65%) believe that sex education should
60
encourage young people to delay sexual activity but also
prepare them to use birth control and practice safe sex 50
% of teachers
60
and about how to become sexually healthy adults.
50
Nonetheless, conservative lawmakers continue to pursue
40 funding for abstinence-only education, and the election
of George W. Bush as president suggests that additional
30 funding will soon be on its way. Bush made abstinence
promotion a prominent feature of his campaign rhetoric,
20 promising to “elevate abstinence education from an
afterthought to an urgent priority.” Whether his actions
10 will be tempered by new research suggesting that absti-
nence education is actually quite prevalent in this coun-
0 try, and that further promotion of abstinence-only edu-
Any AIDS Birth STDs How to say
prevention control no to sex cation would run contrary to the desires of teachers,
Source: Lindberg LD, Ku L and Sonenstein F, Adolescents’ reports of reproductive parents and students, remains to be seen.
health education, 1988–1995, Family Planning Perspectives, 2000, 32(5):220–226.