April 9, 2010

  • Teach Birth Control, Go to Jail

    So I was flipping through the news the other night and came across a local news report of a nearby county.  The district attorney sent out a letter to all the schools with in the county saying that if they plan on teaching the newly adopted standards for sex education classes then he will prosecute them and if convicted they could face up to 6 months in jail.  I thought to myself that this story would hit the national news.  Sure enough it did.  The D.A. was on Anderson Cooper last night.

    The funny thing is...I have taught in most of the schools he is threatening.  Oh and here is an article about a sex ed teacher within that county that says abstinence only education doesn't work. 

    In all of this, I learned something.  When I was a "kid", I broke the law.

Comments (25)

  • Broke laws? Holy smokes. They had to invent new ones when I was on the prowl. Just kidding. I do have some sense of decency. I'd like to see a full background check on both of these guys.

  • It didn't sound like the curriculum would "encourage students to have sex." The DA seems to be stating wild opinions without providing any factual basis.

    I love how the woman who talks afterward completely slams him. She actually referred back to the actual curriculum.

  • Yeah, I grew up in FDL and have been in Madison the last decade--That curriculum is exactly what I had in health class in both highschool and junior high. He might stir up some trouble, but I'd be surprised if this particular DA is successful in imposing his personal views against the statute on the books.

  • The blond woman is right. That's all so crazy.

  • Palin '12

    Yee haw!!!

  • Man that's all so crazy!

  • ridiculous.

  • I couldn't listen to this whole thing . . .what a bonehead! And he's abusing the power of his office to bully and intimidate people into conforming to his way of thinking. Getting pissed . . . going to drink . . .

  • -headoven-

  • That guy is a complete douche. He was probably having sex at 14, and is now all high and mighty telling people what to do. I mean, going against having teens know how to use birth control, the consequences of sex, how to deal with abuse? He wants to deprive them of all that valuable information by making up shitty claims that it leads to delinquency? On what fucking basis are you claiming that, you turd?

    Ugh. I hate self-righteous idiots like that.

  • I wonder what government officials would do if all parents decided to teach their kids about birth control themselves. Unfortunately we'll never know, since too many parents are hesitant to even mention the word "sex" around their kids...

    This is extremely retarded though (and I hate using that word if I can help it, but its just so fitting here).

  • @tendollar4ways - don't make me dizzy!

  • if it were actually true that comprehensive sex education encourages sex between minors they might have a point. however, numerous studies have shown that kids given comprehensive sex education do not have sex earlier than students who are given abstinence-only sex education, and they do not have more partners than them either.
    Also, who's to say that they're giving this information for right now? Proper use of condoms is not suddenly useless information once you turn 18.

    that being said, the woman giving the opposite view point was a) not calm enough to sound reasonable imo, adn b) did not do the best job of arguing for her side

  • "But I didn't know that how you make babies!"

    idiots. ignorance won't help.

  • Also, with all his talk about prosecuting minors for having sex, maybe they should also include a component in the curriculum discussing the laws surrounding underage sex, and the importance of waiting until an appropriate age/time in your life before becoming sexually active. I bet many high school kids don't even know there are sex laws.

  • @Persiankitty - 

    It seems to me that the best people to teach kids about sex are the parents. Its such a personal thing that contains so many moral and belief issues. I think parents are the best people to teach those kinds of things.

  • Actually, just about everything Cooper brought up in the beginning as parts of this state mandate I'd absolutely want my children to know. The fact that there's an opt out option available for this removes most of the responsibility from the schools anyways, anyone who's participating had to have had foreknowledge and signing that release indicates their approval.

    Hopefully he'll be dismissed as a DA for this.

  • If a person (not just a kid) cannot figure out how to use a condom, they should not be having sex. Period. It cannot be a good thing for them. It cannot be a good thing for society. It is human de-evolution.

  • Me..

    Born as a  troublemaker

    Raised as a lawbreaker

  • That's... one crazy state.

  • One word: Ridiculous.

    and all these conspiracies I read about will come true.

  • @NightCometh - 

    Even good parents find it difficult. My parents were by no means deadbeats, but if my sexual education had fallen back on them, I would have no idea about contraceptives, menstruation, or other anatomical information. I hope that someday sex will no longer be such a taboo so that maybe parents will feel more comfortable giving thorough, accurate information that teenagers need (or maybe people will feel just as comfortable with a "stranger" teaching their children about the birds and the bees as they do having a "stranger" teach them about math). Unfortunately, we do not live in that world, and so having a professional teacher giving this information does seem like the best option. I'm happy that I had sex ed when I was in school, as awkward as it was at the time, because that information was very helpful, even though I didn't have sex until I was 18. I've certainly used that info much more frequently than I used algebra ;) *LOL*

    I'm actually happy to see my old home state adopting this comprehensive, all-ages sex ed program. I used to attend a Unitarian church here in Illinois, and they had a Sunday school that taught what they called Our Whole Lives, or OWL. It was very similar. They began in Kindergarten, and went all the way through high school, teaching age-appropriate subjects from anatomy to STDs to contraceptives. That program produced some of the most well-rounded students I've ever met and some of them even fought to have that program implemented in their public schools because they were sick of having to answer their friends' questions about sex because the schools... and the parents... weren't giving them the info they needed.

  • Some of the desperate rhetoric of these right-wingnuts is getting scary.  But what scares me even more are some of their actions.  I can't believe that a D.A. would or could get away with this. 

  • Seriously, just take a good look at his face. It says all.

  • yeah, i saw this on the news too... had no idea you lived near there though...

    random note:  i heart Anderson Cooper... he's the son of Gloria Vanderbilt, ya knowwww ;)

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