More Money Down The Drain

That a program simply doesn't work never stopped the 109th Congress from adding more money to fund it. Apparently the same principle is operative in the 110th Congress as well. This time the program has to do with educating our teens about sex and the program, one that only talks about abstinence, has been been proven once again not to be effective. From an AP article:

Programs that focus exclusively on abstinence have not been shown to affect teenager sexual behavior, although they are eligible for tens of millions of dollars in federal grants, according to a study released by a nonpartisan group that seeks to reduce teen pregnancies.

"At present there does not exist any strong evidence that any abstinence program delays the initiation of sex, hastens the return to abstinence or reduces the number of sexual partners" among teenagers, the study concluded.

The report, which was based on a review of research into teenager sexual behavior, was being released Wednesday by the nonpartisan National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. ...

A spending bill before Congress for the Department of Health and Human Services would provide $141 million in assistance for community-based, abstinence-only sex education programs, $4 million more than what President Bush had requested. [Emphasis added]

Abstinence only programs simply don't work, according to this study, and several studies which have preceded it. Teenagers continue to have sex, but are doing so without any real-world information which would prevent pregnancies and prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases. Why Congress continues to throw money down this rathole is a mystery, especially when there are more comprensive programs which have been proven (again in this study) to be more effective.

The study, conducted by Douglas Kirby, a senior research scientist at ETR Associates, also sought to debunk what the report called "myths propagated by abstinence-only advocates" including: that comprehensive sex education promotes promiscuity, hastens the initiative of sex or increases its frequency, and sends a confusing message to adolescents.

None of these was found to be accurate, Kirby wrote.

Instead, he wrote, such programs improved teens' knowledge about the risks and consequences of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases and gave them greater "confidence in their ability to say 'no' to unwanted sex."

The whole point of education is to give students information and the tools to use that information wisely. Most teenagers have enough smarts to know when they are being conned and when the data is relevant and can affect them directly. Abstinence only programs don't work because the students can see through the glibness, just as they could see through the "Just Say No" mantra of the Reagan anti-drug war.

Oh, and a final note about the conclusion of the article: Mr. Kirby's employer, ETR Associates, develops and markets sex education curricula, some of which were reviewed by Mr. Kirby in this study. That is important to know, but the group which sponsored the study also acknowledged that Mr. Kirby was both thorough and even-handed in the preparation of the report. That's good enough for me. It should also be good enough for Congress.