Insidious
The sex-ed speaker left today. The normal health teacher came back to assess what we learned, and to provide extra information. He reminded the class that contraception does, in fact, exist, but he didn't tell us how to get it. He also warned us to watch out for personal opinions masquerading as fact.
It was also the time when my suspicions were proved.
People usually don't leave presentation having absorbed specific facts and statistics. Instead, they come away with a general feeling. That's part of what makes abstinence-only education so insidious.
When asked about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy, one guy replied that they "don't work." (The abstinence-only teacher had spent quite a bit of time discussing the shortcomings of condoms, while avoiding giving any real representation of their effectiveness.) The teacher did correct him.
Then the teacher started a discussion on abortion. When he asked who thought abortion was okay, I was the only person in the entire class to raise my hand. (Yes, it was awkward, but at least nobody glared at me.) A few people raised their hands for "abortion is never okay", and the rest of the class thought that it was only okay in some circumstances, such as rape and ectopic pregnancies.
The teacher went on to play Devil's Advocate with some people. One girl said that she thought that a "baby shouldn't be aborted if it has feelings... I think at 18 days is when it gets them." I asked her where she was pulling "18 days" from, but I already knew. She said that because the abstinence-only speaker talked about how a baby's heart begins beating at 18 days. I knew people were going to equate that with emotions...
So cunning. By only challenging contraception, abstinence-only education manages to give people the impression that it never, ever works. And that speaker was very vocal about her opinions on abortion, too. I suspect that she really influenced the class, who probably hadn't spent much time thinking about it before. From declaring that a fetus is a person, to asking people how they would feel if their little brothers and sisters weren't born, to saying that "a baby doesn't deserve the punishment for a rape", I think that she far outstepped the boundaries of public school education. I thought it was supposed to be neutral...
It was also the time when my suspicions were proved.
People usually don't leave presentation having absorbed specific facts and statistics. Instead, they come away with a general feeling. That's part of what makes abstinence-only education so insidious.
When asked about the effectiveness of condoms in preventing pregnancy, one guy replied that they "don't work." (The abstinence-only teacher had spent quite a bit of time discussing the shortcomings of condoms, while avoiding giving any real representation of their effectiveness.) The teacher did correct him.
Then the teacher started a discussion on abortion. When he asked who thought abortion was okay, I was the only person in the entire class to raise my hand. (Yes, it was awkward, but at least nobody glared at me.) A few people raised their hands for "abortion is never okay", and the rest of the class thought that it was only okay in some circumstances, such as rape and ectopic pregnancies.
The teacher went on to play Devil's Advocate with some people. One girl said that she thought that a "baby shouldn't be aborted if it has feelings... I think at 18 days is when it gets them." I asked her where she was pulling "18 days" from, but I already knew. She said that because the abstinence-only speaker talked about how a baby's heart begins beating at 18 days. I knew people were going to equate that with emotions...
So cunning. By only challenging contraception, abstinence-only education manages to give people the impression that it never, ever works. And that speaker was very vocal about her opinions on abortion, too. I suspect that she really influenced the class, who probably hadn't spent much time thinking about it before. From declaring that a fetus is a person, to asking people how they would feel if their little brothers and sisters weren't born, to saying that "a baby doesn't deserve the punishment for a rape", I think that she far outstepped the boundaries of public school education. I thought it was supposed to be neutral...