Texas Abstinence Program leads to INCREASE in Sex
Abstinence-only sex education programs, a major plank in President Bush's education plan, have had no impact on teenagers' behavior in his home state of Texas, according to a new study.
Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University.
"We didn't see any strong indications that these programs were having an impact in the direction desired," said Dr. Buzz Pruitt, who directed the study.
The study was delivered to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which commissioned it.
The federal government is expected to spend about $130 million to fund programs advocating abstinence in 2005, despite a lack of evidence that they work, Pruitt said.
"The jury is still out, but most of what we've discovered shows there's no evidence the large amount of money spent is having an effect," he said.
Now this ought to get interesting. Conservatives used to excoriate tax-and-spend libruls for funding "social engineering" programs that were short on results. Think the logic will apply here?
And what if preaching abstinence is inherently like telling kids not to think of an elephant?
Despite taking courses emphasizing abstinence-only themes, teenagers in 29 high schools became increasingly sexually active, mirroring the overall state trends, according to the study conducted by researchers at Texas A&M University.
"We didn't see any strong indications that these programs were having an impact in the direction desired," said Dr. Buzz Pruitt, who directed the study.
The study was delivered to the Texas Department of State Health Services, which commissioned it.
The federal government is expected to spend about $130 million to fund programs advocating abstinence in 2005, despite a lack of evidence that they work, Pruitt said.
"The jury is still out, but most of what we've discovered shows there's no evidence the large amount of money spent is having an effect," he said.
Now this ought to get interesting. Conservatives used to excoriate tax-and-spend libruls for funding "social engineering" programs that were short on results. Think the logic will apply here?
And what if preaching abstinence is inherently like telling kids not to think of an elephant?
posted by bluememe at 1/31/2005
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