Who’s to Blame?
What is innocence? Perhaps the question should be rephrased. What is happening to innocence? Where has it gone? These questions are frequently asked by those who are extremely burdened with the outrageous outburst of teen pregnancies, the increase of STD’s on teens and children’s sexual abuse. Much is to be said about the cold blooded attacks on one of fundamental building blocks of society, children. But the core of the matter is: Who’s to blame? The educational system, society or parents?
The never ending battle of the “hot potato” starts as it follows… The educational system or as many people say “the schools”, have not instituted a solid sexual education program. Others argue, society is a sexual billboard, flashing a wide variety of sexual propaganda into the eyes of its inhabitants and when there is no argument left, the whole weight falls on bad parenting and a never ending world of family issues. The bottom line is, are they individually responsible? Or do they share equal responsibility? These three elements will be briefly analyzed shortly.
First, it is important to point out that sexual education has been unanimously voted as taboo through out the years. Parting from this statement, we can conclude that the task of imparting competent sexual education in the school system is far from becoming a reality. The history of sexual education in public schools shows that both extreme conservative and liberal movements have not reached an agreement in what is supposed to be a well structured “sex-ed “curriculum. Therefore, during the 60’s the education of sex was limited to biological elements, only to high school seniors. Then, the sexual revolution of the 70’s led to an amalgam of concepts that got out of hand in the 80’s. It is during this decade that the HIV virus bursts causing hysteria and therefore a massive campaign promoting safe sex. Did it work? Did the use of condoms and other preservatives help control STD’s and unwanted pregnancies. The statistics clearly show that due to the lack of maturity teenagers are least likely to use the proper methods in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies and STD’s. Furthermore the statistics for the year 2003 show that the amount of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies tripled and the age lowered.
These facts clearly show the failure of Sex education not only from the state but also from the parent’s side. Keeping information away or giving execive information before hand has proven to fail. The key to a successful sex education depends on a solid formation from infancy avoiding taboos and being straight forward. The base is provided by the family and the state will reinforce it. Of course, this is no easy task for some parents but planting the seed of trust and friendship at a very early age will lead to excellent results. Therefore, as these children grow they won’t become targets of sexual predators, they will be able to take wise decisions and eventually become stable adults.
We are still carrying the bad decisions that were taken in past decades. Right now is the time to set aside the hedonistic lifestyle promoted by the mass media industry that portrays man and women as sexual machines or objects. The facts don’t lie. Just take a good look around … girls carrying babies fulfilling a role that still doesn’t belong to them. Read the papers, listen to the news… your child may be next.
(*** trying to employ the toumlin model)
What is innocence? Perhaps the question should be rephrased. What is happening to innocence? Where has it gone? These questions are frequently asked by those who are extremely burdened with the outrageous outburst of teen pregnancies, the increase of STD’s on teens and children’s sexual abuse. Much is to be said about the cold blooded attacks on one of fundamental building blocks of society, children. But the core of the matter is: Who’s to blame? The educational system, society or parents?
The never ending battle of the “hot potato” starts as it follows… The educational system or as many people say “the schools”, have not instituted a solid sexual education program. Others argue, society is a sexual billboard, flashing a wide variety of sexual propaganda into the eyes of its inhabitants and when there is no argument left, the whole weight falls on bad parenting and a never ending world of family issues. The bottom line is, are they individually responsible? Or do they share equal responsibility? These three elements will be briefly analyzed shortly.
First, it is important to point out that sexual education has been unanimously voted as taboo through out the years. Parting from this statement, we can conclude that the task of imparting competent sexual education in the school system is far from becoming a reality. The history of sexual education in public schools shows that both extreme conservative and liberal movements have not reached an agreement in what is supposed to be a well structured “sex-ed “curriculum. Therefore, during the 60’s the education of sex was limited to biological elements, only to high school seniors. Then, the sexual revolution of the 70’s led to an amalgam of concepts that got out of hand in the 80’s. It is during this decade that the HIV virus bursts causing hysteria and therefore a massive campaign promoting safe sex. Did it work? Did the use of condoms and other preservatives help control STD’s and unwanted pregnancies. The statistics clearly show that due to the lack of maturity teenagers are least likely to use the proper methods in order to avoid unwanted pregnancies and STD’s. Furthermore the statistics for the year 2003 show that the amount of sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies tripled and the age lowered.
These facts clearly show the failure of Sex education not only from the state but also from the parent’s side. Keeping information away or giving execive information before hand has proven to fail. The key to a successful sex education depends on a solid formation from infancy avoiding taboos and being straight forward. The base is provided by the family and the state will reinforce it. Of course, this is no easy task for some parents but planting the seed of trust and friendship at a very early age will lead to excellent results. Therefore, as these children grow they won’t become targets of sexual predators, they will be able to take wise decisions and eventually become stable adults.
We are still carrying the bad decisions that were taken in past decades. Right now is the time to set aside the hedonistic lifestyle promoted by the mass media industry that portrays man and women as sexual machines or objects. The facts don’t lie. Just take a good look around … girls carrying babies fulfilling a role that still doesn’t belong to them. Read the papers, listen to the news… your child may be next.
(*** trying to employ the toumlin model)
posted by Lizely | 7:58 PM
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