So, more shock and horror coming out of the news outlets lately, letting us know just how terrible the state of our nations youth is in. Surprisingly, this time it might not be the usual hyperboly for the sake of ratings (link is slightly NSFW with blurred cartoon naughty bits, but so worth it). According to the Centers for Disease Control, over one in four teenage girls in the US currently has a sexually transmitted disease. I'm not sure we can trust an organization that can't even figure out where its own center is (seriously, how many centers can you have?), but everyone else seems to be, so what the heck.
If accurate, this is obviously a tragedy for our nations youth, and speaks strongly to a failing policy. I'm not sure at what point we as a nation decided that it would be better to keep our kids ignorant, but I think this new study should be a wake up call. I don't have a teenager yet, which is nice, but I was at some point, a long, long time ago, a teenager myself, and as I recall, being told not to do something was a hit-or-miss policy at best. In fact, being told not to do something usually led to the though "well, gee, if it's important enough to tell me not to do it, there must be some reason that doing it is fun - maybe I should look into it".
Don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating that we should start showing pron in schools. I just think that maybe a little more openness might pay off. Why do we have to assume that every bit of information going out to our kids will immediately be put to self-destructive ends? Isn't it possible that our kids could actually be thoughtful, intelligent beings that can process information, store it for later, and use it to make responsible decisions?
I've heard the arguments of course. Telling our kids about safe sex, that's the same as telling them that we're okay with them having sex. Well, if that's the case, let's stop talking about anything that we don't want our kids to do. For example, I would like to remove any references to wars from the history courses, as I think there are better ways to handle conflicts. Also, stop teaching slant rhyming (using words that are spelled the same but don't actually rhyme). "Wander" and "gander" do not rhyme, and Mother Goose was a hack for thinking that they did. Man that pisses me off.
Obviously, I'm kidding, but you hopefully get the point. Not teaching about a thing doesn't prevent it, and similarly, teaching about something doesn't necessarily suggest approval of the subject. Give the information, and then teach them how to use it intelligently.
Except slant rhyming. Seriously, "gander" and "wander". WTF is that?
4 comments:
As soon as the kids the kids shows an interest or is curious, I think you should let loose the whole story.
Complete with a thesaurus for the sexual organ names. Too bad Dr. Suess died before he could do that rhyming book. "A willy is a wiener, but it sounds slightly cleaner..."
Say it with an accent and maybe the rhyming will work. Did you ever stop to think that a mama goose may have an English accent?
Wuv ya!
Barb
Great. Now I have read all poetry with a British accent.
From now on, no one is allowed to say anything in the comments section that may prove me wrong somehow, with the exception of Management, who would have done so anyway.
Dear Dangerous, your bloggy-thingy makes me laugh!!! It's fun reading it. The potty mouth can sometimes be distracting to me. Thanks for sharing your writing talents. I'm truly enjoying this!!! Hugs!
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