"Of course, how long does it take to teach the kids "Just don't do it!"
Some people make it sound like every teenager has sex. They don't. I know, I was one of the kids that didn't (and I was very cute). I also had lots of other girlfriends that didn't have sex when we were teenagers.
It was a different story when we got older (20s), but not when we were young.
IMO, the one where the second you knock up little Suzy you graduate to Working Man status.
Saw that with my own eyes when a cousin knocked up his girlfriend. Both 15 at the time and both immediately called up to “adult” working man/woman status the day it was found out. Were married within a couple of weeks too.
I remember spending summer vacation with his brother and while we were sleeping in until 7:30 or 8:00 his brother was rolling out of the rack at 4:30am because he had to be at the worksite by 5:30 so they could get busy laying shingles as soon as it got light enough to see.
His wife also worked swing shift sewing at a shirt factory while her mom watched the kid.
I can remember all that quite clearly and also clearly remember thinking “no thanks.”
His parents were of the opinion that “adults” don’t go to high school or enjoy summer vacations cooling their heels. Adults go to work. Adults have their own garage apartment they’re renting down the street. You want to engage in adult activities you better be prepared to go all in.
Her parents believed the same and they got a crash course in adulthood.
Anyway, that was the one and only case of that I can recall (among my relatives). I had many cousins and two siblings and none of them opted to follow in his footsteps.
It wasn’t all bad though. They were married 47 or 48 years. Ended up with five kids and nine grandkids and two great-grandkids before he died at 63-ish of leukemia.
Can also recall my dad referring to it from time to time. He’d say, “if you ever knock up (whoever) I’ll be glad to help you out – as soon as I get done reading the newspaper I’ll let you have the want ads so you can hunt up a job.”
I doubt that’s considered cutting-edge sex education but apparently something worked. Also remember overhearing an uncle commenting that now that he had a job, a place to stay, and a family to support, he could go ahead and have all the sex he wanted. Maybe he did but it was at least five years before she was pregnant again. I personally suspect Mr. Working Man was a little gun-shy and wanted to be better positioned financially before he did that again… but who knows.
Oh – also note that there wasn’t any single-parent family or welfare involved.
And it also leads to a culture where children out of wedlock is the norm.