Setting The Bar Higher

This is an interesting link from one of the blogs I follow. Below is an excerpt from the linked post:

Earlier this month, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration issued a mandate requiring so-called “comprehensive” sex education for all middle and high school students in NYC public schools.

 

In response, Dr. Anne Nolte, a family practice physician in Manhattan, wrote last week that the city’s new requirement reminded her of the saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results.”

She then goes on to make some bold observations:

"If we had the courage to look honestly at teen pregnancy, we wouldn’t be satisfied with a mandate that does the equivalent of placing a tiny band-aid on a gushing artery. If we had the courage to admit that we don’t have a solution, we’d be unwilling to spend more money on an old model that has pretty much failed. 

If we had the courage, we’d challenge our preconceived ideas about teenage behavior and sexuality and would go back to the drawing board.

Could it be that teens really are capable of self-control, moral decision-making and goal-directed behavior? That teens would adopt healthier behaviors if they got a consistent message from parents, teachers, doctors and the media that risk-avoidance, rather than simply risk-reduction, is possible and would maximize their happiness? Could it be that we — the adults who discount their potential for acting with integrity and maturity — are part of the problem?

 In every other public-health intervention, an ideal is promoted: no-smoking campaigns, no-soda-drinking campaigns. Why not in the area of teen sexuality?

This reminded me of a certain episode in Y Speak where, if I remember right, the guest speakers were debating whether it was right for teens to be allowed to buy and bring contraceptives. 

Alarmingly, such a debate is becoming commonplace here in the Philippines.Unwanted pregnancies, particularly teen pregnancies, are becoming an issue, not only in the US, but also in the Philippine society. I should know because I lived through college watching my female classmates get pregnant one at a time, always out of wedlock. 

So there is an issue and it has been acknowledged. What matters now is how we respond and the quality of that response. And at this juncture, I go back to what Dr. Nolte had to say about Bloomberg's plan for 'comprehensive' sex education. Whereas, the plan by Bloomberg involved mitigating the risk of rampant premarital sex among teens by promoting rigorous instruction in contraceptive methods, Dr. Nolte calls for a more realistic solution, grounded on the philosophy that teens are more than capable of sound judgment and abstinence if given a consistent message by all of society's sectors.

I side with Dr. Nolte on this one. Yes, teens are capable of saying no to premarital sex, just as most of them are capable of saying no to drugs, to alcohol, to peer pressure, to smoking. And it would be tantamount to belittling the youth if adults are content with simply providing them easier access to condoms and abortion clinics.