>>IMHO, there is nothing at all wrong with the abstinence only pov. The problem is in trying to make it everybody's way of life by law. That is so impractical as to be absolutely useless. I once saw a program on TV in which they were interviewing teenage boys and girls. One girl was asked if she wasn't worried about getting pregnant, and she answered, "No, because I only do it once in a while." Any guesses how much sex education she's been getting at home? At least she didn't say she thought babies were brought by the stork.
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>I have trouble with teaching abstinence as the preferred approach for teens (and my kids knew that), but I want them to know about birth control and protection from disease, as well. One of the key points in the book I cited was that the two sides in this debate have very different world views.
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>On the whole, those who want what's known as comprehensive sex education expect their kids to complete their educations and get established before marrying and starting a family, probably in their late 20's or 30's. (Put me in that group, with one son in a PhD program and the other halfway through college.)
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>On the whole, those who want abstinence-only sex ed. expect their kids to marry young, whether or not they continue their education.
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>You can see why the two groups would feel differently about this issue. It would certainly be unrealistic of me to expect my sons to be abstinent until they're 30, but if I had expected them to be married at 18-20, it would be another story.
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>Tamar

At one time or another, most of us were teenagers. Yes, teenagers can abstain, but for a parent to expect it and to base their world view on it, is, in my opinion, a bit unrealistic - even if they expect the kid to marry by the age of 18 to 20.

The whole point of sex ed, as far as I'm concerned should not be just to teach the kids how pregnancy happens and how to avoid it. Yes, they need to be taught that because many of them will want to experiment, not to mention that some people just have higher sex drives than others. But they also need to be taught the consequences. They should be taken on field trips to slum homes of teen (or once-teen) parents raising babies.