Sex Ed Changes At School With 65 Pregnant Teens

ClickonDetroit ^ | August 15, 2006 | AP

[ShadowDancer]

Sex Ed Changes At School With 65 Pregnant Teens

POSTED: 8:17 am EDT August 15, 2006
UPDATED: 8:40 am EDT August 15, 2006

CANTON, Ohio -- An Ohio school board is expanding sex education following the revelation that 13 percent of one high school's female students were pregnant last year.

There were 490 female students at Timken High School in 2005, and 65 were pregnant, WEWS-TV in Cleveland reported.

The new Canton school board program promotes abstinence but also will teach students who decide to have sex how to do so responsibly, bringing the city school district's health curriculum in line with national standards.

The board made the changes in a vote at its regular meeting Monday.

The Rev. David Morgan served on a committee that developed the lesson plans. He said the new curriculum moves beyond the "Just Say No" approach.

Health textbooks, older than some students, will be replaced.

"If we had math books from 1988, reading books from 1988, as a parent, I would be furious," said Patty Rafailedes, a physical education teacher.

The Ohio Department of Education doesn't require schools to provide sex education, particularly when it comes to using contraceptives. The state curriculum calls for venereal disease education, which often is taught along with nutrition and the effects of drugs, alcohol and tobacco.

"Sex is more complex than the information about drugs and alcohol," said Bill Albert, a spokesman for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. "It is not a not-now, not-ever message."

According to the Canton Health Department, statistics through July 2005 showed that 104 of the 586 babies born to Canton residents in Aultman Hospital and Mercy Medical Center had mothers between the ages of 11 and 19.

[ShadowDancer]

I was taught 'new math' in the 70's and consequently I completely stink at it.

[Dr. Bogus Pachysandra]

What is Doctor Bogus Pachysandra?
Bwaaa! Bogus Pachysandra = fake ground cover plant!
I called a married friend one day, and got his answering machine. I decided to goof on him, so I said, using a sing-song sorta Pakistani accent, " This is Doctor Bogus Pachysandra from the Cleveland Free Sex Clinic. All your tests have come back negative/positive, positive/negative. Don't touch that thing! Don't let anyone touch that thing! I'm a Doctor, and I wouldn't touch that thing!"
My friend's wife got home first, and got the message. I guess there was a heated exchange before they realized it was just me pullin' their legs!

[LexBaird]

"If we had math books from 1988, reading books from 1988, as a parent, I would be furious,"

Assuming they were in usable condition, why? Has math or reading changed since 1988? Besides driving the lucrative schoolbook publishing industry and supporting the latest pop-ed fad, why are books on math being constantly "updated"?

[DustyMoment]

The final exam...

Yeah, well, sarcasm aside, I have been advocating for schools to add parenting courses for high school students and that two semesters of parenting MUST be completed before the student can graduate. There are far too many instances of young parents killing/maiming their children in fits of rage because they don't know what to do.

It is incredibly ironic to me that we have to have training and a license to drive a car, fly an airplane, sell real estate and cut hair, but any two people can get naked and make a child. When the child is born, the nurses at the hospital just hand the baby over to the new parents (who are still in shell shock) and wave goodbye. Babies don't come with instruction manuals and new parents are often bewildered. It's time to bring some sanity to the situation.

[little jeremiah]

:-(

[patton]

A lot of folks have that problem - whover decided to use kids in the silly expiriment should be shot.

[Joe 6-pack]

"Pop-Up Books!"

I suppose that's better than the scratch-n-sniff variety...

[Red Badger]

AAAACCCCHHHHHKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!!!!.......LOL!.....

[DustyMoment]

Similarly, schools have returned to real reading, and sounding out words.

Not all of them. I used to substitute in the local school district and one of the classes I would have to sub in was a reading class. The kids were required to have a book open in front of them and turn the page, periodically. They were not required to read out loud because the school couldn't force them if they didn't want to read. So, they pretended to read, and I pretended that they were doing their in-class assignment.

If anyone wants to know why Johnny STILL can't read, I can tell them.

[patton]

true, not all public schhols are equally bad.

[DustyMoment]

true, not all public schhols are equally bad.

I concur.

[Identityfree]

Good textbooks are one thing. But then you have teachers who can't spell, capitalize correctly and have awful grammar who are teaching our kids. Doesn't make for a good combination, imho.

[Tench_Coxe]

Isn't the name of their sports teams the 'Trojans'?

[Tench_Coxe]

lol. I posted before reading down.