Teen Pregnancy

I think BK brought up a significant point. Kids aren't being taught responsibility at home and, in some cases, at school either. Parents aren't allowing children to bear the brunt of the choices. They have become so concerned that their kids are "happy" that the kids don't learn that happiness isn't a right. We are only garunteed the persuit of happiness, not the goods themselves. So, kids aren't taught that heard work will get them what they want, they are taught that whinning and complaining that they aren't happy will get them what they want. Further more, parents have forgotten how to BE parents. Parenting isn't an easy job and your kids won't always like you. In fact, as far as kids go, love isn't always about like. But I see so many who cannot stand up to their own kids because they are afraid that the child won't like them or be unhappy.
I have had parents come into my classroom and as me why "I failed their child". Like it was my choice. I have even had principals tell us that as teachers we should do more to make students pass. And I sit there and feel like I have been sucked into a bin of lunecy.
So, until we as a culture learn to take responsibility for ourselves and our actions, we aren't going to be able to do much about these problems.
 
The argument that I hear a lot is that, "well, kids are going to do what they want.". No they aren't, there are issues of respect and self dignity and what ever happened to obeying your parents? Now I don't expect my three sons to grow up like amish/quakers. But at the same time I don't want them to live like a lot of "free-thinking" parents let their kids act.

They know what the potential consequences are if they have sex. That includes the loss of college education, housing, family support. If your going to act like an adult, you will be treated like an adult. I have a nephew who had a full ride, four year scholarship and he had to turn it down because he and his gf got pregnant. Now they live in a dump of an apartment, fighting all the time, will probably split up and have very little future. All for a bit of fun on their part... I really hope people like this are happy with their decision.
 
I don't know if this has been mentioned already but I think part of the problem is that teachers and parents want to pass the buck as to whose responsibility it is to teach sex education. Personally I think it's the parents' job really, but schools should do it anyway to ensure that EVERYONE learns it.
 
Yes, they both got pregnant. Kwaj was later able to sell his nephew to medical science to fund his martial arts habit.
 
the religious fanaticals would have you believe that sex is the problem here, its not, the problem is that people aren't being safe, its the job of the participants to use, and sometimes the duty of the parents to provide condoms, birth control pills, the depo shot if requested, like i've said before, people are NOT going to stop having sex, so be safe. Condoms have evolved so much, its amazing, so use a condom, get on the pill, if its premeditated, then do the obvious things, {the hot water testicale thing, among others} have a morning after pill handy, ect. but if its a heat of the moment thing at a club or where ever, then atleast have a condom handy, its the duty of every female having sex to be on the pill. and every male to have a condom handy, and women, consider carrying a condom in case he dosen't have one. be safe, stay happy. enjoy.
 
Quality of sex-ed depends on where you are. Mine was pretty good. Though really, I read so much through junior high and high school that all the classes did for me was fill in some of the details on various STD's and birth control methods. And probably the classes came too late to help more than a few girls (ours was a big school).

But yeah, it is not solely the school's responsibility. Parents should take a hand in it too. Mine never did, or very little.

And there are probably many places where sex-ed is completely inadequate. Abstinence-only education. Of course that's the only 100% effective method of preventing pregnancy. Duh. And in a perfect world, absitnence-only would probably work. But we do not live in a perfect world. Therefore we have to assume people will not necessarily listen to their teacher or parent. So safe-sex is definitely an important part of sex-ed. Sex, even safe-sex, still creates a whole mess of problems. But at least then the participants are not creating any third parties to bring into the issue.

A few people here (by which I mean tekken) seem to be trying to oversimplify a very complex issue. The problem is not just sex. The problem is also not just that people are not having safe sex. The problems as I see it are:

-Lack of adequate sex education, on both the part of schools and parents
-Society's divergent and contradictive views on sex, which encourage promiscuity and discourage open discussion
*dirty act not to be talked about
*marketing ploy
-(in some cases) bad role models
-A lack of responsibility on the part of (some) of today's teenagers
-Parents afraid to lay down the law and force teens to bear the consequences of their actions
-Parents who either passively or actively encourage the marketing ploy aspect of sex by permitting or actively helping their children buy into the images presented to them through the media and through society

The solutions:

-better sex-ed, that comes BEFORE kids get all weird about sex. If you teach them when they're 16 (when I finally got the full courseload), the kids who already know it don't need it, and for the kids who don't know it, it's usually already too late. Teach them the full course load BEFORE they've really had a chance to experiment on their own, you'll solve more problems before they start. And make sure parents are in on it as well. It really should come from them more than from the schools; the schools should be more a safeguard against ignorant and bad parents rather than the first resort for sex-ed.
-parents become more open with their children about sex. Sex is natural, not some perverted act to be kept behind closed doors. Also, parents are role models. If parents made mistakes when they were in high school, kids are more likely to do the same thing. Especially if the parents do not share the experience of how hard it was for them with their kids, or point out that it will be even harder for this generation if they have a kid in their teens than it was for them. Having nothing more than a high school diploma was okay for the previous generation. Now it is not, at least not if you want to make more than min. wage.
-the media stops emphasizing sex as a method of recreation. We don't need to return to puritanism, but we don't need to go to the opposite extreme either.
-parents force their teens to accept responsibility for their actions, and make sure they know what the potential consequences of their actions are. A kid who doesn't know what could result from a negative action is the one most likely to make the mistake. A kid who knows the consequences, but also knows that mommy and daddy will save them is the second most likely to act. But chances are that a kid who knows the consequences and knows that they will have to live with them for the rest of their life is the least likely of all.
-treat teens like intelligent human beings and not like idiots. One of the reasons my stepfather and I did not get along was because I would ask why I couldn't do something, and he would say "because i said so". Way to go John, that really answered my question. Treat people like adults, they're more likely to act accordingly.

If anyone else sees something I missed, please feel free to add it.

One last word. Not all kids get pregnant or have sex before they're ready. Most don't. I got through high school okay, and all my friends. Don't lose sight of the forest of good kids for concentrating on the individual trees that once upon a time made a bad decision and got stuck with the consequences.

*and tekken, you earned that little jibe. Please don't mock people, it isn't at all conducive to intelligent discussion
 
our sex ed is about 3/4 basic biology stuff (fallopian tubes, vasectomies, bla bla bla) and 1/4 'look children this is what happens to you when you grow up', not the most educational: we know what happens when you 'grow up' and we go over the biology every year. plus, the pregnancy prevention stuff in biology is just a merely disguised plot by the government to lower the numbers of teenage pregnancies although quite how they think teaching some of these girls about 'cutting tubes' and 'using protection' will stop them getting knocked up at parties i dont know
 
Actually, you got taught very similar things to what I did while in high school. And what did I learn from it: Women, because their antomy have the possibility to get pregnant when having sex and men, because of their anatomy can make women pregnant. And possibly, thats exactly what the government is trying to achieve, through warning you what can happen and telling you to 'use protection' (aka the pill, the condom). I don't get whats so hard to understand about that ? And here comes my question back to you seiki juku kid: What should the government teach the girls instead so they don't get knocked up at parties ? About how alcohol affects your judgment ? That trying three somes is going to get you pregnant ?

Christian
 
i can't really answer that but i know that at the end of last year everyone in my biology class clamoured to watch the 'sex video' because it had naked people etc but my teacher got a different one that we hadn't seen before and it had some seriously rank bits about STDs and STIs in it. some of us were just like eew that's disgusting but a lot of people were repulsed by it and went around for about a week saying 'i'm never gonna have sex if i might get one of THOSE *cringe and shudder* '. rather effective methinks, though not sure whether the government would let the teachers show us horror films of STDs as part of the curriculum??
 
The point of seeing a video on STD's is that you are aware of them seiki juku kid. And it seemed your class showed that most kids prefer seeing the "naked" video then actually pay attention to the context of the message in the video. You want to see naked ppl, ask your boyfriend/girlfriend to take his/her clothes off for you, you don't need a biology video for that. And classifiying something as serious as STD's and STI's as "rank" shows me that your class cared not one bit about the actual content of the video although it looks like it works if some of you guys were repulsed by it.

Christian
 
i dont see how you can condemn me as caring "not one bit about the actual content of the video" just for describing the images as 'rank', i wasn't talking about the STDs themselves, just the pictures of weeping sores and so on. and most of them are aware of the diseases and infections as in they know the names, they just dont know what happens if you get them which is why the video was good. besides, they actually watched it, absorbed what it was saying and retained the information, which is more than can be said for the response to the sex video.
 
tekkengod said:
the religious fanaticals would have you believe that sex is the problem here, its not,
Except that part of the problem is that underage teens are having sex. That is a problem. On so many levels you run out of hands and toes to count it on.
Not the least of which is they can't even provide for themselves let alone for a child. Nor do they have an education/life experience enough to be able to work their way into a decent place in the job market.



Parents need to step up to bat long before they start handing out condoms. They need to be the first line of defense when it comes to their kids having sex. If they took the responsibility to educate their kids about underage sex and it's consequences then what gets taught later on in schools (as lacking as that can be in many cases) might have more effect on the sexual habits of teenage kids.




But people having sex really isn't the issue is it. The real issue teen's having sex and then the female ending up pregnant or one or both ending up with a disease because their parents were not willing to pay some attention to making sure their kids understand the gravity of situation.



LOL!
From what? They haven't changed that much I assure you. They are still prone to breakage and still are a hassle to get on and still keep thing hot and heavy. What about condoms has evolved so much? Scented and glow-in-the dark don't count. And as for ribbed for pleasure... that's a myth if there ever was one.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
For starters parents could approach the subject of sex when discussing it with their kids in mature manner. Which they often don't. So many adults feel uncomfortable talking about sex and that in turn transfers to their children and is largely to blame for the resultant ignorance about matters of sex in general and safe sex in particular.

It's a hard choice for a parent to step up to bat and talk about sexual matters with their kids. But if the parents don't the kids are left with their source of information coming primarily from their friends... that is to say other kids who also know next to nothing.

So a starting point would be for parents at a very early age to not shy away from the subject. If young kids, being as precocious as they can be, bring up the subject - then it's time for the parents to get in gear set the tone for discussions of sexual matters from that point forward.

When they laugh it off, get nervous and avoid the subject or react angrily and snap that it's 'adults business' or 'get your mind out of the gutter' they are blowing a chance to effectively introduce a subject that could very well be a life and death issue for their child.

It'd also help if there were more parent comfortable with their own sexuality and comfortable in their own skins.

In many respects it seems as if nothing has changed since the turn of the century in this regard. Or at least since my parents were kids not getting the proper information and attitude about sexual matters from their parents.
 
1. I disagree, the problem is irrespondsible, unsafe sex. what is "underage" sex, underage by the states concent guidelines? well then hey, most people aren't doing anything wrong.
2.I agree, but when that fails, Birth control meathods NEED to be presented. in fact, i know alot of parents, who are subtle about it and give their daughters as a meathod of "period regulation" and vice versa.
3. Teenagers are not going to stop having sex either, get over it, a realistic solution please?
4. HEY! Scent and Color ARE innovations right? seriosuly, a few years ago, there was NOTHING they could do against a plethora of STD's, now they can. do some research if you like.
 
Birth control doesn't prevent the spread of STDs at least one of which is 100% fatal.

Putting girls on birth control does NOT control STDs.
 
By being more open about their own sexuality and giving the kids the chance to ask them questions. At least that would be one suggestion.

Christian
 
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