Wednesday, September 27, 2000
Study: Kids need improved sex ed
Content short of expectations
By Kristina Goetz
The Cincinnati Enquirer
From abstinence to homosexuality, a new national survey has found that parents want their children to learn more and spend more time on sex education in schools.
The Kaiser Family Foundation study, released Tuesday, found gaps between what parents want schools to teach and what students and teachers report is actually being taught in classrooms.
The survey was of 1,501 students and their parents, plus 1,300 educators.
Some Greater Cincinnati parents agreed with the findings. Others said it is the parents' responsibility to teach their children about sex.
Terry Poindexter, whose daughter Ashley is a senior at Holmes High School, said she had to sign a release for her to attend sex education classes when she was a freshman.
“I'm pretty liberal on what they should be taught,” she said. “Education is beneficial. The more you know, the better off you are.”
The basics — mechanics of reproduction, information on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases and the message of abstinence — are now standard in sex education. While parents agree these topics should be taught, they think schools should go farther and include things often labeled controversial such as abortion, sexual orientation and communication and coping skills, the study indicated.
In Northern Kentucky, issues such as HIV and reproduction are taught as a part of practical living/vocational studies classes. The topics are part of the core content that state officials developed. Students must have their parents' permission to participate.
In Ohio, sex education is taught as part of health and home life classes, and families can choose to opt out of controversial lessons.
Ms. Poindexter agreed with the large number of parents in the Kaiser study who said schools should touch on controversial issues.
“I think they need to learn about those also,” she said. “They're part of life. You can't make an informed decision about it if you don't have any information.”
According to study results, parents look to sex education to provide practical skills that students and teachers report is not consistently covered. More than eight in 10 parents said how to use condoms and other forms of birth control, as well as how to talk to partners about them, should be taught.
More than 90 percent of parents said they want schools to teach students about real-life issues such as pressure to have sex and the emotional consequences of becoming sexually active.
On the more controversial issues, 79 percent of parents said abortion and 76 percent said sexu al orientation should be taught. Most (74 percent) specified that when these issues come up, they should be presented in a balanced way that reflects different societal views.
The telephone survey was conducted between February and May 1999. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.
Ashley Poindexter, 17, said the health teachers at Holmes assume students know about sex.
“I would have liked to have had more information,” she said. “If you get pregnant, who can you call, about adoption, abortion and birth control and for the guys to use condoms?”
Ashley said she thinks half a school year isn't long enough to learn what teens need to know about sex. It needs to be a separate class, she said.
Tracy Mitchell, who has two sons at St. Clare Elementary School in College Hill, said they are already asking about sex. She agrees that schools need to provide information to students, but stresses parental responsibility. She said she remembers how students giggled during sex education classes when she was in school.
“You didn't want your buddy to know you didn't know what a term was,” she said. “I want my children to know.”
Federal and private research — distributed with the Kaiser study — show declining sexual activity and unplanned pregnancies among teens, but figures that often raise concerns show that approximately 4 million teens will get an STD each year, and nearly half of teens didn't use condoms in their most recent sexual encounter.
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