MISSISSIPPI FORUM
By Marsha Meeks Kelly
In another life, I was a public school teacher. English, math and eventually “Skills for Adolescence” were the subjects that consumed my days along with an average of 140 seventh graders.
Every day I worked hard to meet the needs of my students in “inner-city” public schools in Mississippi. I remember the tears of the student who came to me to discuss her pregnancy and how she was going to tell her parents and whether she should get married at 13 years of age.
That year we started a “Peer Ears” program, a peer counseling program, and the next year we started survival skills classes called “Skills for Adolescence.” Too many pregnancies and too many sexually-transmitted diseases forced our school district to incorporate classes to educate our students about their life decisions.
Reading the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report on the sexual and reproductive health of young people was depressing. So little progress has been made here! Twenty years ago several concerned Mississippians formed a statewide coalition to work with the legislature to ensure a comprehensive K-12 health education curriculum, but we still do not have even a pilot program offering students sex education, despite attempts to institute such a program in the 2009 legislative session.
The CDC reports that Mississippi is still among the top states in the nation in the spread of HIV and AIDS among pre-teens. We also have the highest birth rate in the nation for mothers ages 10-14 and 15-17, and have seen a spike in sexually-transmitted diseases. Several government studies have confirmed that about 60 percent of Mississippi high school students are sexually active, but most do not use birth control. The statistics are heart-rending and constitute a moral mandate for action by the leadership of this state.
Mississippi can change such statistics, but like every problem, leaders must step up, understand the issues, look at possible curriculums, get educated and educate our citizens and our youth.
In all my years in public service, I have always been more interested in the opinions of folks in the field rather than critics on the sidelines. I ask the state legislature, the Governor, and the Lieutenant Governor to once more convene a working group focused on comprehensive sex education. This group should include educators, parents, students, social workers and health professionals who deal with youth to ensure that people on the frontlines of teen pregnancy and HIV/AIDS prevention are at the planning table. There are models from other states, like the F.L.A.S.H. program in Washington State, which can be considered.
Young people in Mississippi make tough decisions every day. We can’t be with them all the time, but we can increase their ability to make informed, responsible decisions by giving them the information they need. Comprehensive sex education delays sexual activity and promotes healthier life choices, according to a review of research on the subject by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy.
It is time to set aside emotions and focus on filling the educational gap that jeopardizes the future of so many of our youth. We need a model program that can be set in place across the state. Our young people are counting on us; their health and their future are at stake.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Kelly is the recently retired executive director of the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 2009 by the Mississippi Forum 10/09
GEORGIA FORUM
By Ginny McNulty
Kids returning to school might find their lessons haven’t changed all that much from last year. That includes their school-sponsored sex education classes. Even though last spring President Obama ended federal funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs -- many of which were proven ineffective in delaying sexual activity – not much has changed yet in Georgia.
During the last school year, I spoke at numerous presentations at my high school to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. I was repeatedly shocked at how little my fellow classmates knew about HIV/AIDS. I was asked on more than one occasion if HIV is transmitted by simple skin to skin contact. Before doing the presentations, I assumed that the students would know the majority of the information I was giving them. I was wrong.
Students repeatedly asked me about the effectiveness of condoms as protection against HIV infection. Unfortunately, I was unable to answer these curious students because school policy prohibited it. My school employed an abstinence-only policy, which extremely hindered me in giving potentially life-saving information to my classmates. On one occasion, one student confronted me during my presentation when I talked about abstinence and not about condoms. It was difficult for me to continue doing presentations after that incident because I whole heartedly agreed with him.
As a senior in high school I joined the Teen Action Group (TAG) -- Planned Parenthood's teen peer health educators -- because I wanted to empower myself and my fellow teens on matters of sexual health. Now, I see first-hand how responsive teens are to complete and accurate information. Young people are thirsty for knowledge and recognize how important this information is to their lives. I have seen how well teens respond to messages from other teens, often even better than they do with adult educators. For many of my peers who have only had ineffective programs in their schools, I am thankful that peer educators like me and the TAG group will continue to be sources of good information in our communities.
The goal of this program is to educate young people about delaying sexual activity, good decision making skill and contraception as a way of reducing the number of teen pregnancies in our state. Georgia has the 10th highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation and according to Advocates for Youth, the U.S. "continues to have the highest adolescent pregnancy and birth rates in the industrialized world, although U.S. teens initiate sex at about the same time as their European counterparts." The teen pregnancy rate in Canada is half of that in the U.S. With many teen parents and their children facing significant challenges for the rest of their lives, something more has to be done.
So, I have a few messages from myself and my fellow peer educators. To our parents: we understand why you would prefer that we wait to become sexually active until we're ready to be safe. We understand that the decisions we make now can affect the rest of our lives. We want to know what your feelings are about sex and relationships and we know that sometimes, it can be uncomfortable to talk about it. To schools and policy makers: providing us with 'abstinence-only-until-marriage' programs limits our decision making abilities. Withholding information about safer sex and contraception could put our lives at risk.
President Obama’s actions make it so now funds can only be used for scientifically based programs. This is great news for the next generation of young people. Georgia-schools now just need to implement changes to their programs.
Comprehensive sex education does not send a mixed message to us. We want to discuss the benefits of waiting to become sexually active as well as the ways we can be safe when we do become sexually active. Knowledge is power and by refusing us comprehensive sex education, you are depriving us of the power over our lives and our futures.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
McNulty, age 19, is recent Atlanta-area high school grad and a peer health educator through Planned Parenthood’s Teen Action Group program.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright (C) 2009 by Georgia Forum. 9/09
