Thursday, September 3, 2009
AIDS education
Always a contentious issue, the AIDS education debate is another area where the primary issues under debate are not over appropriate policies to combat an agreed-upon problem, but over appropriate goals and values, and by extension, the very nature of the problem at issue. A new UNESCO report encourages explicit discussion of sexual topics with children to prevents AIDS transmission and conservative groups react, as discussed in the New York Times here. Thoughts on these values?
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4 comments:
This is a very sticky debate. How can we possibly agree on a solution if we don't know the nature of the problem? Personally, I believe that it has much to do with the disintegration of the family unit. Now what is the nature of that problem? It really is a can of worms that raises more questions than it answers. Does the government have a right to intervene in family life in an attempt improve the situation? My gut reaction is no, but in reality if it did create more good than bad can I say that? Historically, has government-provided sex education decreased such problems like unwanted pregnancy and STDs? I would say that it has, so it seems logical that we continue on that path. Obviously the family unit isn't doing a good job.
This is a highly controversial issue today. I believe that sex education at an early age is the way to go. Only through education will people (including young children) know the hazards and repercussions of sexual intercourse. This article made me think of the anti-abortion campaign that was graphically demonstrating on CU's campus last year. I was talking with one of the campaigners and we were talking about sex education. Education is the only way to help people have protected sex. It is hard for me to understand why conservative Christian groups think that sex education is too vulgar or explicit when sex is a natural thing in life. It doesn't make sense to me for these groups to be against sex and the education that can prevent kids from having it.
I agree with what Kerstin J said. I want to add also that if these christian groups are concerned about the vulgar images, masturbation, and the responsibility from the parents taken away they need to look in another direction. Obviously a majority of kids are missing viable information about safe sex. We are taught math, english, philosophy, and biology but in general know nothing about our own anatomy and how to prevent the consequences of unprotected sex. Reproduction is a natural key comment of successful survival. There is no way to avoid it in generally but there are ways to avoid the life changing heath risks that come with unprotected sex. I went to the DR this summer with a team of doctors. One of the gynecologists said that most of the patients she saw had no clue how that part of the body operated. An HIV Positive 12 year old girl came into the clinic with symptoms of abdominal pain which she claimed in triage was her kidney's. Immediately the girl started crying after finding out it was not her kidneys and in fact she was actually pregnant. She was scared and devastated primarily because she had no way to support a child at such a young age. Again she had no education to know how both the HIV and child could have been avoided. EDUCATION IS THE ANSWER!!!!!!
I agree that education is the key to preventing a lot of the problems associated with these policies. Encouraging explicit discussions about sex, sexually transmitted diseases, and pregnancy can greatly change people's attitudes about it. Having people become more comfortable with the subject is the first step. This type of education, however, may not go over well at first if people aren't ready to hear it. I think this is a situation where values need to be overlooked. People can't turn the other cheek and pretend these children and young adults aren't having sex at all, which is why they don't know the consequences of it. If sex education is implemented from the beginning, it will transform the way sex is evaluated.
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