Is telling high-school children not to have sex, really giving them sex education? The Bush administration is sure that promoting ‘celibacy before marriage’, will lower S.T.D counts and reduce the number of teen pregnancies. However, does teaching that condoms are ineffective, or not mentioning them at all, just mean that teenagers are more likely not to use protection when they do have sex?

“I won’t have sex before I get married”; A pledge taken by thousands of Americans every week, a pledge endorsed by the president of the United States of America. However, of the teenagers that make the pledge, eighty-eight percent are likely to break it; and when they do finally have sex, what is the likelihood that they will use protection? – After all, their teachers have taught them that contraceptives do not work.

Independent studies show that only forty percent of males, who make and then break the celibacy pledge, use condoms; compared to the sixty percent of those who never make the pledge.

The Bush administration is pumping $170 million a year into the pre-marital abstinence programme. Teenage pregnancies and S.T.D’s are a huge problem in America. Although the number of cases have decreased in the past couple of years, America’s 43 per 1000 pregnant fifteen to nineteen year olds is still more than quadruple that of France – which gives comprehensive sex education.

Even if teachers disagree with the sex education scheme, there is little that they can do about it. In Texas teachers are banned by law from promoting the benefits of correctly used contraception. Text books are currently being rewritten to remove all references on the advantages of condoms. Teachers can face disciplinary action from parents who feel topics such as ‘oral sex’ are unsuitable for discussion with eighteen year old students.

Many prominent worldwide health organisations denounce abstinence-only sex education. The National Institute of Health for America claimed that discouraging the use of condoms and teaching that they are ineffective “places policy in direct conflict with science because it ignores overwhelming evidence”.

There is also a large amount of opposition to the scheme because some believe that this ignorance about protection is simply going to encourage the spread of H.I.V. and aids. “You will never stop teenagers having sex; you’ll only stop them being careful”, claims one abject critic of the scheme.

Evidence shows that students who don’t get a comprehensive sex education have sex just as often as those who do. However they use contraceptives and protection against sexual diseases less often and less effectively. A large number of female students have also admitted to being called ‘slags’ and ‘tarts’ after admitting to friends that they had sex even once with a long term partner. A reaction seemingly encouraged by their teachers who are discussing sex as if it is dirty and wrong.

By taking away the largest chance that teenagers get to learn about and openly discuss sex, there is fear amongst some parents that America will produce a generation of children who are ignorant of things which will hugely affect their adult life. Fewer than one fifth of American parents say that they want their child to receive abstinence-only education; however Mr Bush wants to invest another hundred million dollars per year into the scheme.

Sex education has become something of a joke in teenage American culture; in the recent film ‘Mean Girls’ the health teacher put the message of American teachers bluntly “Don’t have sex. If you do then you will get pregnant… and die.” Maybe methods are not yet this extreme but if thing carry on as they are then it may only be a matter of time.

With more ‘abstinence’ clubs than ever before it has been revealed that over half of the members will have sex before marriage, a eigth of them having met their sexual partner at the club or a similar abstinence promoting event.

The strong Christian beliefs held by thousands of Americans, and their president, have seemingly influenced the education of all American children. Now, in a supposedly open and excepting culture, less than one third of public schools include discussions on abortion or sexual orientation in their curricula. How are American children going to accept their own sexuality or that of others if they are never allowed to discuss or question it?

With Britain and America’s ‘special relationship’ so strong, some have questioned the likelihood of the scheme spreading. However Britain may have the highest teen-pregnancy rate in Europe but their comprehensive sex education has meant that both cases of S.T.D’s and teenage pregnancies have started to the decrease; with the new generation fully aware of the benefits and limitations of contraceptives.


Eloise Hindes