Monks Jazz Club
New Textbooks Damaging
RECEIVED Thu., Dec. 2, 2004
To the editor,
Re: "Texas Remains Sexless" [News, Nov. 12].
The new textbooks passed by the State Board of Education are going to have serious repercussions in teen pregnancies and STDs. They leave out information about contraception, saying that abstinence is the only way to protect oneself, and by doing so the Board of Education is putting Texas youth at serious risk.
There is no guarantee that teaching "abstinence as the only way to prevent unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases" will scare teens away from having sex. According to Planned Parenthood, "Each year approximately 1 million U.S. teenagers become pregnant." So, when a teen decides to have sex it is important for them to know alternative forms of protection.
Education on contraception is also necessary to protect teens from STDs. The new health books enforce the idea that abstinence is the only form of protection from STDs, when in fact research done by the FDA shows "condoms to be effective against pregnancy, HIV, and gonorrhea." If we discontinue education about contraception as a form of protection from STDs, we may soon be facing the same problem of widespread AIDS as Africa.
What kind of education system are we promoting?
Re: "Texas Remains Sexless" [News, Nov. 12].
The new textbooks passed by the State Board of Education are going to have serious repercussions in teen pregnancies and STDs. They leave out information about contraception, saying that abstinence is the only way to protect oneself, and by doing so the Board of Education is putting Texas youth at serious risk.
There is no guarantee that teaching "abstinence as the only way to prevent unwanted pregnancies or sexually transmitted diseases" will scare teens away from having sex. According to Planned Parenthood, "Each year approximately 1 million U.S. teenagers become pregnant." So, when a teen decides to have sex it is important for them to know alternative forms of protection.
Education on contraception is also necessary to protect teens from STDs. The new health books enforce the idea that abstinence is the only form of protection from STDs, when in fact research done by the FDA shows "condoms to be effective against pregnancy, HIV, and gonorrhea." If we discontinue education about contraception as a form of protection from STDs, we may soon be facing the same problem of widespread AIDS as Africa.
What kind of education system are we promoting?
Elizabeth Roberts
