10/10/08 By A. Graves
When students want to actually learn about a topic, should teachers dive head first in chalk boards across the country? Many would say yes but not in Alaska. There is a shortage of teachers rushing to the chalk board when it pertains to education, specifically sex education.
A number of high school and college students in Anchorage have started petitions to add sex education in their classrooms. Vox, Voices for Planned Parenthood, have been the leaders of the pack. The group from the University of Alaska has collected 1,100 since August, as reported by the Anchorage Daily News. With a little over the 1,000 mark, Vox told ADN that they have nearly 3,900 to go.
"At this point, there has not been an official request," Anchorage superintendent Carol Comeau said. But "I am more than willing to have the health curriculum committee look at that issue."
Anchorage has traditionally used the abstinence-free model in its school system when informing students about have to avoid teen pregnancies and STD transmissions. That just is not good enough for Planned Parenthood Chief executive Clover Simon. Simons believes that schools should provide health information that is medically accurate and responsibly introduced to age-appropriate students, ADN reports.
"I know exactly how bad the sex ed was because I sat through it too," the head of Vox Amber Sawyer told ADN. "I met one girl from the Bush who didn't even know what a condom was.”
If there actually are high school students that do not know about basic contraceptives, will they still be oblivious as adults if they do engage in sexual relations?
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