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American youths are becoming more safety conscious, and going to more lengths to practice a healthy lifestyle-in the bedroom at least.
In a report for the Child Trends DataBank, condom use increased significantly in the past 15 years, rising from 46% among sexually active high school students in 1991 to 63% in 2005. In a country where there are over 300,000 unwanted pregnancies among 15-17 year olds a year and over 4 million of our adolescents have contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it is good to hear that our younger generation is smartening up to the idea of safe sex.
For many years schools nationwide have been torn between whether to teach abstinence or safe sex in their programs, with many leaning towards abstaining. Well, with the amounts of sexually active students rising consistently, it seems only logical that schools support and teach students how to engage in the act safely, by using protection.
For sexually active people, condoms are by and far one of the best, if not only, effective way to avoid both STI’s and unwanted pregnancies, and many high schools have come to respect that, giving out condoms often as part of a sex-ed program.
My shock was rather great when I read recently that a school in Kansas City, at the University level (not high-school), has still yet to adopt such a program. The school in the article, Whitman Jewell College, only recently separated from the Missouri Baptist Convention, and has a hard time convincing its entire population that distributing condoms is a proper balance of Christian values. The school has only recently hosted the play, “The Vagina Monologues” and recently held an event called, “Do It Right,” focused on contraception use.
Following these steps in what my opinion is the right direction for the students, the next logical thing to do is make condoms available through the Student Health Center, as many students have reportedly already requested.
School officials stated budgetary concerns, but I don’t think you can put a price on improving the knowledge and well-being of our nations’ students.
In a report for the Child Trends DataBank, condom use increased significantly in the past 15 years, rising from 46% among sexually active high school students in 1991 to 63% in 2005. In a country where there are over 300,000 unwanted pregnancies among 15-17 year olds a year and over 4 million of our adolescents have contracted a sexually transmitted infection (STI), it is good to hear that our younger generation is smartening up to the idea of safe sex.
For many years schools nationwide have been torn between whether to teach abstinence or safe sex in their programs, with many leaning towards abstaining. Well, with the amounts of sexually active students rising consistently, it seems only logical that schools support and teach students how to engage in the act safely, by using protection.
For sexually active people, condoms are by and far one of the best, if not only, effective way to avoid both STI’s and unwanted pregnancies, and many high schools have come to respect that, giving out condoms often as part of a sex-ed program.
My shock was rather great when I read recently that a school in Kansas City, at the University level (not high-school), has still yet to adopt such a program. The school in the article, Whitman Jewell College, only recently separated from the Missouri Baptist Convention, and has a hard time convincing its entire population that distributing condoms is a proper balance of Christian values. The school has only recently hosted the play, “The Vagina Monologues” and recently held an event called, “Do It Right,” focused on contraception use.
Following these steps in what my opinion is the right direction for the students, the next logical thing to do is make condoms available through the Student Health Center, as many students have reportedly already requested.
School officials stated budgetary concerns, but I don’t think you can put a price on improving the knowledge and well-being of our nations’ students.
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