Posted on 03/09/2010 12:10:28 PM PST by Fixit
NEW LONDON, Conn. -- Sexually transmitted diseases is a topic that many people don't like to talk about, especially with teenagers. But, the director of the regional health department in New London is calling for the mandatory testing of teenagers from eighth-grade through 12th-grade students in New London and Groton.
The hope is that other shoreline communities will follow suit and begin testing their teenagers as well.
Vanessa Reed works for the school-based health clinic that operates inside New London High School. She said there's an epidemic of STDs infecting Connecticut teenagers, particularly teenage girls, and it's no surprise that it's happening in diverse, urban areas.
Reed said, "From my experience, what I've seen, the majority of them are sexually active."
There are about 674 cases of chlamydia per 100,000 people in New London. In New Haven, a much larger city, there are close to 1,200 cases per 100,000 people.
Baker Salsbury, the executive director of the shoreline's regional health department, is proposing a 10-year plan to eradicate STDs, which included blunt health classes where teens hear real stories and see graphic pictures of infected teens. The plan also includes a requirement that every student get involved in some sort of after-school program and mandatory testing of all students for STDs beginning in eighth grade.
Channel 3 Eyewitness News Reporter Heather Hegedus asked Salsbury if he believed it was a bit too radical for some communities.
Salsbury said, "I think some people may see it as that, but that's simply because of the sensitivity that surrounds adolescent sexual activity in our society."
The school board and city officials would have to approve mandatory testing, but at New London High School, Reed said she thinks parents would be receptive to the idea.
Reed said, "Anyone who is going to the clinic in a high school knows. Obviously there's a stigma, but if it's mandatory and kids have to do it, and it's sort of like me checking your hemoglobin when you get a physical."
Reed said anyone contact Ledge Light Health District if you're interested in joining his task force, but Salsbury said the program will fail unless students take the lead in the program.
My wife and I are empty nesters. We started saying 6 years ago that if we were starting out now with a family we would abso-frickin-lutely home school. With the support networks, computers, curriculum, etc. available today, public schools are obsolete. They are also very dangerous indoctrination centers for your children.
[proposing a 10-year plan to eradicate STDs, which included blunt health classes where teens hear real stories and see graphic pictures of infected teens.]
Are these the same liberals who have a fit if anyone dares show a teenager a picture of an aborted baby?
will they have to wear a scarlet letter?
Sex ed hasn’t done this. Children being raised without fathers is one factor. A disregard for the culture and mores that made this country great is another. Sex ed is a symptom of a pervasive deterioration of our values and personal responsibility.
Does universal health coverage require STD testing, or is that old hat?
Since when is 0.1% infection rate an epidemic? They don’t even say what percentage of this small minority are in the target 12 to 18 age group.
Sex ed has done this because it isn’t “biology” and “reproduction” that is being taught. It is the Sex Positive notion that “if it feels good, do it”. Exercise the pleasure principle and there should be NO moral judgements made over any sexual relations regardless of sex, number, age, relation, or speices of partner(s).
Condoms in schools wasn’t about ending STDs and teen pregnancies. It was about settling the argument over whether minors should be having sex. Now the question is how low the age of consent should go.
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Whoa! someone is gonna catch holy heck for saying that out loud. :P savor the diversity, people!
Reed said she thinks parents would be receptive to the idea.
Then let them test their kids all they want, daily even.
“just say YES” campaign to teen sex and experimentation
This agenda is funded through numerous agencies and institutions with our tax dollars.
If they didn't encourage kids to have sex all the time, like they're a bunch of alley cats, there wouldn't be an epidemic.
And pity the poor teenaged boy who does it with an underage girl after being encouraged to. They'll turn around and stab him in the back and label him as a sex offender.
I was surprised to learn that there was any urban environment in Connecticut. What’s that, some 1940s two-story buildings along main street in some burg?
JFK had STDs while in the White House.
Well, the government should only have business mandating testing/immunization for diseases that are a problem in public schools....
Are they trying to say that STD’s are being regularly transmitted during school hours?
234 years is a long time to be free.
Are these STDs one of the “real world” experiences that government school defenders are constantly saying that homeschoolers are missing?
( Just wondering.)
Sex ed hasn’t done this. Children being raised without fathers is one factor. A disregard for the culture and mores that made this country great is another.
Yeah, I would agree with that; sex-ed hasn't done this at all. It's the highly promoted over-sexualization of way too many things in our society which is pushing teens into this mess. From this highly-sexualized culture we're in, you then get the teens' peer-group pressure (which is very effective) to carry this forward.
I've seen kids going to Christian schools and going to church, and still succumb to this pressure.
Until our society changes (which I don't think it's going to...), this situation will not change with the teens.
It says it’s mandatory for ages 8th grade through 12th, if they go this far then the fact you’re homeschooled won’t mean this doesn’t apply to you also.
Just watch, they will make it mandatory to get a drivers license or some such BS as an incentive, mark my words.
In Detroit Public Schools a girl still a virgin in the 8th grade is cause for shame.
I hope parents rise up on this one; albeit; one more; after one more; after. . .
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
They won’t. Free babysitting is powerfully addictive.
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