Spring Break
Sex ed on right track in Oregon
Issue date: 5/19/09 Section: Forum
Where did you learn about sex?
If you grew up in Oregon, your classroom sex education may have been fairly adequate; if you grew up somewhere else, it may have been a little flaky.
Still, it's safe to say that many of us learned from our peers, rather than the classroom, how to be safe.
Thanks to our elected officials in Oregon, this may not be the case in the future, and we believe this is a very good thing.
Monday, the Oregon Senate passed House Bill 2509, giving the current sex education laws more teeth, so to speak.
Sex education must be "medically accurate," according to the bill, and provide students with the best information on how to prevent pregnancy and spread STIs. Basically, teachers will be given a specific guide to teach students - from elementary to secondary schools - proper information on all things sex.
Of course, the material will be age-appropriate; fourth graders (hopefully) don't have the same sexual issues as 10th graders. And the point of informative sex education is to educate young people on contraceptives, STIs and HIV and on the prevention of both pregnancy and the spread of infection, not to encourage 10-year-olds to run out and do it.
With the passage of this bill, we hope that other states will follow suit.
Thankfully, Oregon has sex education programs already. In fact, teen pregnancy rates have been declining in Oregon over the past several years, possibly due to these programs.
However, many states do not have enforceable sex education requirements, and many more states stress abstinence as the most important contraceptive against pregnancy and infection.
Yes, abstinence is the ultimate contraceptive: no one is going to get pregnant or get syphilis if he or she doesn't have sex. Duh.
But it's pretty easy to see why telling a 15-year-old, "Don't have sex," is a bad idea. We all remember what we were like at that age … heck, we know what we're like now.
That's why having adequate sex education is important.
Young people need to know the facts. It's not fair for someone to end up with an STI or pregnant because he or she didn't understand how or why it's important to use contraceptives.
So, we want to give a thank you to our Oregon legislature. Maybe someday, young people everywhere will be as well-informed as about contraceptives and STIs as awesome Oregonians are.
Editorials serve as a platform for Barometer editors to offer commentary and opinions on issues both global and local, grand in scale and diminutive. The views expressed here are a reflection of the editorial board majority. Disagree? E-mail a letter to the editor or guest column to editor@dailybarometer.com.
If you grew up in Oregon, your classroom sex education may have been fairly adequate; if you grew up somewhere else, it may have been a little flaky.
Still, it's safe to say that many of us learned from our peers, rather than the classroom, how to be safe.
Thanks to our elected officials in Oregon, this may not be the case in the future, and we believe this is a very good thing.
Monday, the Oregon Senate passed House Bill 2509, giving the current sex education laws more teeth, so to speak.
Sex education must be "medically accurate," according to the bill, and provide students with the best information on how to prevent pregnancy and spread STIs. Basically, teachers will be given a specific guide to teach students - from elementary to secondary schools - proper information on all things sex.
Of course, the material will be age-appropriate; fourth graders (hopefully) don't have the same sexual issues as 10th graders. And the point of informative sex education is to educate young people on contraceptives, STIs and HIV and on the prevention of both pregnancy and the spread of infection, not to encourage 10-year-olds to run out and do it.
With the passage of this bill, we hope that other states will follow suit.
Thankfully, Oregon has sex education programs already. In fact, teen pregnancy rates have been declining in Oregon over the past several years, possibly due to these programs.
However, many states do not have enforceable sex education requirements, and many more states stress abstinence as the most important contraceptive against pregnancy and infection.
Yes, abstinence is the ultimate contraceptive: no one is going to get pregnant or get syphilis if he or she doesn't have sex. Duh.
But it's pretty easy to see why telling a 15-year-old, "Don't have sex," is a bad idea. We all remember what we were like at that age … heck, we know what we're like now.
That's why having adequate sex education is important.
Young people need to know the facts. It's not fair for someone to end up with an STI or pregnant because he or she didn't understand how or why it's important to use contraceptives.
So, we want to give a thank you to our Oregon legislature. Maybe someday, young people everywhere will be as well-informed as about contraceptives and STIs as awesome Oregonians are.
Editorials serve as a platform for Barometer editors to offer commentary and opinions on issues both global and local, grand in scale and diminutive. The views expressed here are a reflection of the editorial board majority. Disagree? E-mail a letter to the editor or guest column to editor@dailybarometer.com.
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