PSX5Central
Non Gaming Discussions => Off-Topic => Topic started by: Ghettomath on June 05, 2005, 04:32:24 PM
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60 Minutes ran a report 2 weeks ago on the shift in sex-education in America.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/05/20/60minutes/main696975.shtml
The story focused on a government-sponsored program entitled "Silver Ring Thing" (http://www.silverringthing.com)
which is one example of a program the Bush administration is spending a total of $167 million on this year to promote its abstinence-only approach to sex education.
The goal of Silver Ring Thing is to get teenagers to pledge they will not have sex until they get married. But there are problems...
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Excerpts:
"And there’s a law that says that for a program like Silver Ring Thing to receive government funding, it must not talk about the health benefits of using condoms -- only about how they fail."
"Pledging will help them delay sex for, say, 18 months — a year and a half," says Bearman. "It\'s a big deal in the lives of teenagers. Eighteen months is a phenomenally long time. It’s almost two school years."
So what\'s the downside?
"The downside is that, when they have sex, pledgers are one-third less likely to use condoms at first sex," says Bearman. "So all of the benefit of the delay in terms of pregnancy-risk and in terms of STD acquisition -- poof -- it just disappears because they’re so much less likely to use a condom at first sex."
The U.S. Supreme Court has said that faith-based organizations may not use tax dollars to support “inherently religious” activities. So how is Silver Ring Thing permitted to spread the gospel of Christ and still get federal funds?
The White House’s position is that faith-based organizations like Silver Ring Thing can do it as long as they give their listeners an option to hear a non-religious message in a different location – which Pattyn does.
Based on those interviews with more than 20,000 young people who took virginity pledges, Bearman found that 88 percent of them broke their pledge and had sex before marriage.
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I have been disturbed by this report ever since I watched it last week and was wondering what you guys thought about the state of sex education in America? Should the government be intervening and promoting this faith-based turn? What was your experience with sex education and whose role do you think it should it be to educate a seemingly younger and younger sexually active teenage demographic on the issues of sex?
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^^^complete waste of time. kids are gonna do what they want unless you have a parent that\'s dead in their ass! that\'s the problem with society,..everybody wants the gov\'t to solve their problems. the gov\'t are good for some issues, but not issues such as this. trust if you have a parent that\'s on their children, you will have nothing to worry about. of course having a parent that\'s on them won\'t stop them, but i think it will reduce the chance of them doing it considerably...
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"The White House’s position is that faith-based organizations like Silver Ring Thing can do it as long as they give their listeners an option to hear a non-religious message in a different location – which Pattyn does. "
Gov\'t shouldn\'t be dealing with this crap mainly because kids won\'t listen to it; however, I don\'t see anything disturbing about this. Strong choice of a word for something that has such an insignificant effect. I know what you are trying to say, Bush is turning this country into a faith based gov\'t...blah blah blah. But you know what? You need to give me more than an abstinence pledge to convince me of that.
Waste of money and time? Yes. Disturbing? No.
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I think it\'s a bunch of bullshit of course.
For example. My girlfriend once went to a church camp and there they made her cry and feel bad for all of the "messing around" we did. She came back and said that she didn\'t want to "mess around" anymore. I was cool with it. Because I knew it was going to wear off. And it did. And now I get laid whenever there is an opportunity.
These programs are a bunch of crap. They teach nothing on how to have SAFE sex. Instead, they focus on why NOT to have sex. Yeah right? I would be the laughing subject if I was seen with a "silver ring"
It\'s fine for those that choose to believe that nonsense about waiting for marriage. But for teenagers that are or want to be sexually active. They should know there are choices.
Then again, teenagers are not stupid. We all know what damn condoms are and if your gonna have sex, use the damn things!
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They plan this AFTER the publications of the abuses ?
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The government is really bad at this.
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Stupid... 173 million dollar program? Thats unbelievable... Teaching only how condoms don\'t work is scare tactics at its best.
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Originally posted by Phil
[BI know what you are trying to say, Bush is turning this country into a faith based gov\'t...blah blah blah...
Waste of money and time? Yes. Disturbing? No. [/B]
No, my biggest worry about this isn\'t that it\'s "faith based gov\'t" it is that what these programs seem to be teaching is an entire 180 from what we have been teaching in the past.
Condoms are effective? Condoms are ineffective? They have an 86 percent success rate when used alone? They have a 14 percent failure rate when used alone?
The only thing these programs will do is cause confusion. It is time to level with teens and not treat them with kids gloves. Of course the subject matter can be uncomfortable but come on...
It is disturbing to me that we live in such a sex-soaked culture but no one knows a thing about how to be mature when talking about sex seriously.
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You know what, sex is normal. Teenangers have been having sex since the start of time. It\'s just part of life. All we can do is educate them on the risks of it. You can get an STD ...or...twins (in my case).
However, as much as we glorify sex and make it look like the greatest thing in the world (AND IT ISN\'T, but good luck explaining that to a teenager), the chance of teens abstaining from sex is almost zero.
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Abstinance Education is the biggest oxymoron being touted by the biggest moron to ever live in your White House.
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Originally posted by Avatarr
Abstinance Education is the biggest oxymoron being touted by the biggest moron to ever live in your White House.
OBJECTION!
Conjecture.
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Originally posted by Avatarr
Abstinance Education is the biggest oxymoron being touted by the biggest moron to ever live in your White House.
Ditto. That and "intelligence"
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I didn\'t know Jimmy Carter was teaching abstinance education.
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Originally posted by GigaShadow
I didn\'t know Jimmy Carter was teaching abstinance education.
^
asshat
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heh, I found it rather funny.
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Originally posted by Ghettomath
^
asshat
is this the meaning of asshat?..;)