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Education
is answer
To the Editor:
I am a senior at Rappahannock County High School. After reading “High School pregnancy stats alarm School Board” and “Alarming Statistics,” I felt that I should write in about something that has been bothering me for a while. The article said that the family life curriculum needs to be rethought, and that the teachers are uncomfortable talking to students about sex. How true.
In this past year I heard very, very little about sex from my teachers and even less about protection. If we hear anything at all, it seems to be “abstinence, abstinence, abstinence,” and whereas yes, abstinence is the only 100 percent way to protect oneself from pregnancy and AIDS, what about those who are already sexually active?
The article said the many teenagers had lost their virginity by 1415. I know of seventh graders, children between 11 and 13 - who are sexually active. Preaching abstinence and hoping for the best is not going to work. It is’ not the school’s place to instill morals in us, but it is the school’s place to teach us. That includes teaching us all the options and the pro’s and con’s of each. The school also needs to teach us the dangers of unprotected sex. More than 5,000 children and young adults have died of AIDS. It is now the sixth leading cause of death among 15-24 years old. (Newsweek, Aug. 3, pg. 45).
These are scary days in which tc be growing up. There is a burden oi responsibility placed on our parents
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