Sex education in area schools consists of a unit on the subject in health class.
And any speakers visiting schools to broach the subject, preach abstinence-until-marriage messages.
Lawmakers seeking to abate the number of teen pregnancies, unsuccessfully tried to mandate comprehensive sex ed programs in public schools. Mississippi has the nation”s highest teen-pregnancy rates.
Some want to offer abstinence-plus, which would focus on abstinence and also educate students about birth control. Abstinence-only has failed, they say.
Others say it”s the parents who have failed, driving the state”s teen pregnancy rate to 72 of every 1,000, No. 1 in the country, according to the 2010 Kids Count Data Book. The national rate is 43 out of every 1,000.
Mississippi had 8,528 pregnancies in ages 15-19 in 2008 — 65 in Clay County, 86 in Oktibbeha, 178 in Lowndes, 106 in Monroe and 44 in Noxubee.
STDs among teens also are a concern. According to the Mississippi State Department of Health, 9,955 children ages 10-19 contracted an STD in 2008, its most-recent data year, 929 of which were in District 4, including two HIV cases. District 4 includes Calhoun, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Clay, Lowndes, Monroe, Noxubee, Oktibbeha and Webster counties.
“I”m for teaching sex education in the schools,” said Rep. Esther Harrison, D-Columbus, a former teacher and member of the education committee. “I implore abstinence, but I think all forms of birth control should be taught. I think we have been teaching abstinence, and it hasn”t worked. We have a high rate of birth among teens, and I think all forms need to be taught.”
Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, chair of the Public Health and Human Services committee, echoed Harrison”s views.
“I”m for it 100 percent,” Holland said of sex education, adding the curriculum should include teaching contraception.
“They”re going to hear about (sex), and they”re going to do it,” he said.
Classes optional
While Lowndes County School District doesn”t have a comprehensive sex education program, Assistant Superintendent Edna McGill said the district”s health classes address sex in the context of making health-conscious decisions.
“One of the objectives of the health model is to help students make decisions to avoid potentially harmful situations,” McGill said.
Some of the classes” activities might include creating a brochure on the connection between healthy choices and good health, creating a risk-assessment poster or completing a checklist evaluating the risk of spreading diseases, she explained.
At Lee Middle School, health is an optional class. The class isn”t required by the state until ninth grade.
“There is a state curriculum that has parts of the body, sex and things of that nature,” said principal Cindy Wamble.
The class framework includes learning what contraception is.
Guest speakers have visited the school in the past encouraging abstinence, which, with only seventh- and eighth-graders, is the focus of any sex-related special programs at Lee.
Walking ”a fine line”
“You just walk a fine line with (sex education),” said Wamble. “Some parents are for it and want open communication.” Others, she said, want to teach their own children about the subject.
Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Columbus, doesn”t hear much debate about sex education, despite his position as board attorney for Lowndes County schools. But he believes a comprehensive sex education program could benefit the state.
With the state”s high rate of unwed and teen pregnancy, “I would think some sort of sex education in schools would be an advantage,” he said.
Smith, a member of the Public Health and Human Services committee, recalls learning about the topic when he was in school at Caledonia.
“One six weeks, we had a sex education unit, and we talked about how to prevent pregnancy,” he remembered. “All the girls turned red, and all the guys giggled, but we learned about it.”
The state should “continue to have a strong stance on abstinence,” Smith said, “But if it”s not taught at home, it”s got to be taught somewhere.”
”Babies having babies”
The state health department has resources, including brochures and handouts, to teach abstinence and contraception, but Louisa Denson, director of women”s health for the health department, said most school districts have not requested the programs.
More than sex education, students should understand overall reproductive health, Denson said.
“I think the more they understand their bodies and how they develop, I think they would more understand when their bodies are ready and their mind is ready to actually start a family or abstain,” she said, noting the department”s main focus is to “reduce teenage pregnancy and mothers having babies so close together that they”re not having a chance to be well developed.”
If women wait until age 20 or after to have children, there is less chance of low-birthweight and pre-term babies.
“Through education,” Denson said, the state”s teen pregnancy rate can be reduced.
“If their bodies are developed more, they would have a more developed baby,” she explained. “And they could understand what they need to do to be healthy and have the nutrients in their system to have a healthy baby. The problem we”re having is babies having babies.”
Home and church
Sen. Terry Brown, R-Columbus, wants to keep sex education a home and church matter.
“I think we”ve got enough problems trying to teach reading, writing and arithmetic,” Brown said.
“That goes back to the family,” he added of the state”s high rate of teen pregnancy. “Once we get outside of reading, writing and arithmetic, I think it should be left up to the parents and the families and the clergy to deal with.”
Richard Latham, father of a New Hope High School senior, agrees.
“I think sex education should be taught by the parents,” said Latham. “Children are our responsibility, and they need to know sex is something to be had inside of marriage, not outside of marriage.”
Teen pregnancies often end in abortions or young mothers depending on social welfare, he said. The state Department of Health reported 2,772 induced pregnancy terminations in 2008. Also, parents should teach their children that premarital sex is wrong, not just a bad idea, he said.
“People need to realize that sex outside of marriage is a sin,” said Latham, citing 1 Corinthians 7:1.
“When people start teaching that it”s wrong, maybe children will understand they could lose their souls in a devil”s hell,” added Latham, who also is minister at Gregory Road Church of Christ. “Most of the time, when people teach abstinence in schools, God is not mentioned.”
Parental responsibility
“Some of us just haven”t been good parents,” said Rep. Gary Chism, R-Columbus. “We should be teaching our children to continue school, to succeed in life.”
Part of that, he said, is teaching them about sex.
Parents are too quick to “point the finger at educators rather than taking responsibility,” Chism said. “I don”t think that we ought to be teaching (sex education) in school. It ought to be taught at home.”
Proponents make good arguments for abstinence-plus programs, Chism admitted, “but I (still) think that should be a parental responsibility.”
Several legislative measures attempting to mandate sex education in schools failed to pass.
One of the latest, House Bill 837 to require either programs on abstinence or abstinence-plus, passed the House this year but died in committee in the Senate.
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