Charlotte Sun Herald - May, 12 2008
North
Port High School senior
Emelyn Williams, 17, has noticed the lack of knowledge her peers have about
sex.
"They didn't know what could get you pregnant," she said. "They
had all these misconceptions about pregnancy and STDs."
Florida has
the sixth highest rate for teen pregnancy and syphilis in the country and the
second highest HIV/AIDS case rates. Those statistics suggest
Florida teens lack a basic knowledge of sex education.
Wendy Grassi, director of public affairs for Planned Parenhtood of Southwest and Central Florida, which is based
in Sarasota and covers 15 counties including
Charlotte , Sarasota
and DeSoto, said parents are the ideal teachers of sex education, but many
parents don't address it, assuming schools will pick up the slack. She said sex
education is "rampantly lacking" all over
Florida .
"It's not just here," she said. "The
University of Florida
did a survey about a year and a half ago of teachers around the state about
what kind of sex ed curriculum they had, and the result was there was no
standard. For each school district, it's up to them what they teach and who
teaches it. A lot of counties have an abstinence-only program, which means they
can't discuss contraception. Others have what's called abstinence-plus, where
they teach abstinence but then also teach them about contraceptives."
Williams, who plans to major in film at the
University of Central
Florida , decided to make a documentary about
teen's sexual knowledge -- or lack thereof -- and will eventually post it on
YouTube.com. So far, she's talked to about 20 students in all grades, between
the ages of 13 and 20.
"Some students had a lot of knowledge, some didn't know anything,"
she said. "One of the questions I asked was how long sperm can remain
active in the vagina. It's four to seven days, but most people said a few
hours. Most knew where you could get tested for STDs, but not that you could
get one from oral or anal sex."
The state of Florida
promotes a program called "It's Great to Wait," which teaches
abstinence only.
In Sarasota County
schools, Jennifer Smith, director of Sarasota
County 's School Board
Department of Curriculum and Instruction, said their program starts in
elementary school with age-appropriate curriculum taught through science
classes. At the middle and high school levels, the subject is addressed in life
management skills and health opportunities through physical education classes.
"It is abstinence , but not
abstinence only," she said. "We do provide information and the
elementary, middle and high school levels. Parents can opt out. They have to
sign a form to opt out, but most don't."
Sasha Hyer teaches the class to freshmen at
North Port
High School .
Hyer said he would like to cover more information during his classes, but he
doesn't have the time.
"It's not that sex ed isn't important, but there's a lot of stuff in terms
of health that we need to cover. I see my kids every other day, and we try to
get as much done as we can," Hyer said.
He said he likes to bring in guest speakers. Those speakers aren't likely to be
from Planned Parenthood.
"We have about five outreach educators, and they are available to teach
sex ed classes to whatever group wants them," Grassi said. "We'll go into schools if they'll have us,
but a lot of schools don't want us, because they don't want us to teach
comprehensive sex education, which is what we do."
In Charlotte
County , Sophia Hector is the program
director of the Department of Healthy Lifestyles at the Charlotte County Health
Department. She goes into schools regularly to teach abstinence and STD
education to sixth through eighth graders. She said the information is
different for each age group. Because the Health Department also follows the
state format, she doesn't talk about contraception.
"What we talk about in sixth is definitely different than eighth grade. In
sixth grade, we talk about peer pressure and having a healthy body. In eighth
grade, we talk about STDs, abstinence, tobacco and alcohol. I think for the
typical adolescent teenager, first they like to go and ask friends instead of
the proper source," Hector said, adding many teens are too embarrassed to
ask questions in classroom settings.
"What we do is, we give them the opportunity to write questions down and
put them into a box. That way they can ask their question but still remain
anonymous," she continued. "Yesterday, we had about 30 questions come
from a class. And it was interesting, I don't think that some adults could
answer some of these 'common knowledge' questions. (Teens) ask questions like
'can you get an STD from oral sex.'"
Grassi also said teens are
bombarded with sexual imagery from every angle.
"TV is full of sex, and there's never a discussion about how to be
safe," she said. "They turn on the TV, and it's in everything, in
commercials and programs, sex, sex, sex, and never a discussion about being
responsible, for teens, or for anybody."
Grassi said some recent statistics
are shocking.
"And about a month ago, the (Center for Disease Control) in
Washington D.C.
came out with a report that one in four teen girls has an STD. That even
shocked us," she said. "Our educators will tell you that they come in
contact with teens who have the craziest information. They're not getting the
correct information at school, and only some are getting it from home. But,
through the centuries, parents have been really bad about talking about sex.
Mine didn't. Home would be the best place, and we encourage that. That's the
answer, but a lot of parents assume their kids are getting a proper sex
education in school, but they're not."
Hector said she has parents come to her asking for help.
"We have parents who want to come and review the curriculum," she
said. "And I haven't had a parent say they don't want their child to learn
it."
Hyer said parents could have all sorts of reasons for not wanting their child
to receive sex education.
"It could be based off a lot of things," he said. "But I haven't
had that many parents object, maybe one or two a semester. Every parent is
raising their own child."
What the state curriculum supports
The Florida Department of Health's abstinence education program is called
"It's Great to Wait." The program's purpose is to teach the social,
psychological and health gains that can be realized by abstaining from sexual
activity. It teaches:
* Abstinence from sexual activity outside marriage as the expected standard for
all school-age children;
* Abstinence from sexual activity is the only certain way to avoid
out-of-wedlock pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases, and other associated health
problems;
* A mutually faithful monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the
expected standard of human sexual activity;
* Sexual activity outside of the context of marriage is likely to have harmful
psychological and physical effects;
* Bearing children out-of-wedlock is likely to have harmful consequences for
the child, the child's parents, and society;
* Young people will reject sexual advances and how alcohol and drug use
increases vulnerability to sexual advances; and The importance of attaining
self-sufficiency before engaging in sexual activity.
You can e-mail Anne Klockenkemper at
aklockenkemper@sun-herald.com.
By ANNE KLOCKENKEMPER
Staff Writer
