Letter To the NAEA: Age Appropriate Sexual Education

Wednesday, April 28, 2009

National Abstinence Education Association
1701 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 300
Washington, DC 20006

Dear Valerie Huber and the NAEA Board of Directors,

I am writing to you as a concerned individual regarding the teachings of age appropriate sexual education. After I have done weeks of research, I have come to a bold conclusion. Abstinence-only programs remain inefficient; therefore should be terminated by all United States sexual education teaching courses. I ask you and the NAEA to consider the following information.

My question to you and the NAEA team is, if teenage pregnancy prevention is a main objective to this association, why is this association still contributing to protect abstinence-only approaches while they remain ineffective? In this day and age, how can you support and serve a sexual education approach that is ineffective and contributing to the increase in teen pregnancy rates?

The reason that abstinence only programs remain ineffective is because a secular trend has developed over the past century. This secular trend correlates adolescent’s ages and the time they achieve menarche or spermarche. A normal adolescent girl in the 1920’s reached puberty around the age of 13. The secular tend has now shown that a current females can go through menarche at an age of 7. The most daunting fact of secular tend is that girls at the age of 7–10 are at risk to becoming pregnant.

In the year 2006, 750,000 girls in the U.S. between the ages of 15 and 19 that became pregnant, reported that their pregnancy was unplanned. This is an outstanding number of teenage girls and boys that may have ruined their lives from an irresponsible act that could have been prevented. I am not portraying that abstinence will never work, but rather I am implying that abstinence may only be effective until an age of experimenting in puberty. I believe that sexual education should be taught as separate age appropriate lessons. These hybrid lessons of abstinence and safe sex teachings have been inherited by communities and have noticed a significant drop in teen pregnancy rates. I am asking you and the NAEA to support and embrace the following ideas.

These classes consist of introducing a child to sex. First, abstinence is introduced at a level of strictly outlawing sex as a child. Abstinence is taught until a young teen age. Secondly, around the age of 11, teens will be introduced to a safe sex course that teaches when, why, and how, they should have intercourse. The main point that I am trying to make is abstinence will not overpower the urge to explore sexuality during puberty. Every teenager should have an adequate education when it comes to sexual education. Having this knowledge allows them to make responsible sexual decisions that may save lives. Now my question to you and the board of NAEA is, can you support these ideas and help fight against teen pregnancy with correct age appropriate sexual education?

Sincerely,

Josh Haveraneck

19231 Coachwood

Riverview Mi, 48193

Teen Pregnancy in Poor Social Economic Status.

Growing up within a poor economy can be hard enough for teens. Teens during these harsh times tend to be risker and try to experiment with what ever they can get away with. Drugs, alcohol, and parties can be just some of the things teens take risk with. Another risk poor teens like to take include sexual activity. Families with low social economic statuses tend to neglect teaching their kids sexual education. After many years of teen pregnancy declining, Michigan teens studies have shown a steady increase in the past 15 years. With many factors being discussed, a bad economy is one of the main factors. One of the reasons it is increasing is because people are having a had time finding the money to buy contraceptives. Getting your teen on "the pill," can range from 20 to 150 dollars depending on insurance. Even condoms are expensive. Programs in lower Michigan are being devised to bring down the teen pregnancy rates. Sexual behavioral courses are being provided for Michigan Downriver schools in hopes of decreasing teen pregnancy. People are now seeing more underlying issues that are brought upon teens and their parents.

blacktalkradio.ning.com - Picture

The Outlook of Teen Pregnancy.

Parents are not the only people looking out for teens when it comes to making the right pregnancy decisions. Communities, States, and Government officials are doing specific tasks to help teens prevent unwanted pregnancy. You can find lots of websites that are anti-teen pregnancy. The one website that caught my eye would be under "The National Campaign," website. This Educational based website was made to educate teens and parents on the rights and wrongs to sex. It shows what each states plans are to lower teen pregnancy, while recording and showing data of recent years. For an example, Governor Granholm plans teen pregnancy rates to drop 20%, during the next 5 year This site also shows different options that you have if you were to conceive a child. Also, this site has many sister sites included with it. These sites help for teenagers with different ethnics or religions. I found this site very helpful and easy to navigate through.

( http://www.thenationalcampaign.org/sla/The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy,2010)

(http://i.ehow.com/images/a04/fc/9b/prevent-teen-pregnancy-800X800.jpg)

Overcoming Teen Pregnancy.

In current times, teens are having sex earlier and earlier in their life. Some kids as young as 10-14 years old are having sex. Many parents might ask them self why. Well, you can blame many things like sexual activities on T.V. shows, or even talk shows that are trying to help others with their sex lives. The real blame is the parents. Parents need to step up to the plate and control what their kids are watching or listening too. Schools are another major reason kids are having sex at a younger age. What ever happened to "Sex-Ed" or sexual education? Many schools are going through an abstinence phase that doesn't teach kids about sex, but rather teaches them many ways of how they should never have sex. I think that is very clear that abstinence is not working throughout the teen community. Teen pregnancy rates have raised up 11% in the last decade. This number has reverted to the same decade as the 90's. What schools should be doing is teaching the right ways and the right times for having sex. Through monitoring children's T.V. viewings, teaching kids the correct time and reason to have sex, and teaching them ways to have safe sex, teen pregnancy can be easily avoided.

Is Detroit The Punchline of America?

Comedy can help the viewer see or understand different aspects of an opinion or fact. A comedian can usually help the view sway sides to an augment by showing humors facts that opens up a views mind. For an example in this short You Tube video,"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hhJ_49leBw," Steven Crowder asks the question many people all over the country are asking them selfs. " How did one of the wealthiest cities in the country become what it is today?" With a comic attitude to the question, Crowder goes on to explain the way Detroit has become a city of ruins. While providing humorous detail to his answer, he does stay on topic of issues of Detroit and does not play the blame game as many comedians tend to do. He explains how leftists politicians made Detroit the reborn city for America to model after, as he is showing clips of current run down houses and homeless people.

He brings in examples of auto motive crisis into jokes that are saying that the auto industry blames not going green. With a funny motif playing in the background, Crowder beats down the excuse of not going green with statistics saying GM alone offered more gas efficient cars than most foreign companies. He shows that with unemployment going on the UAW still offered 7 weeks paid vacation a year, and they make their $74/hr wage and benefits. The difference between 1960's auto workers and current auto workers is that most if not all workers do not live in Detroit. All the money the UAW sends out is going to communities not in Detroit. He jokes about the great housing Detroit has with sarcasm and shows the run down community that is on the inter-side of Detroit.

Bringing back the statement Crowder makes about how America was modeling itself off of Detroit, I am sure this comedic statement has more to offer than what is said. being a comedian Crowder shares his good traits of humor; but he shows a hidden message in his walk around journey of Detroit. What I think he is saying is, if Detroit can let itself as a city be leveled down by government and political bureaucracy, then America will soon be headed in the same direction. He briefly explains the similarities in crouped Detroit politicians promises in the past 50 years and the promises that have not been fulfilled by the current administration that runs America. They are nearly identical. "When you continue to remove free market principals that make this country great," Crowder says,"than America can very well look like Detroit in a short amount of time." This is a great representation of how comedy can depict a Serious topic and turn it into humor so a message can be sent out to the viewers.

Keeping Busy

Most Teens in the downriver area find it to be very boring. "What is there to do? What can we do?," most teens might ask their friends. The truth is that there is lots to do in Downriver. The problem is the situations that prevent you from doing activities. There is much more to do in the Summer and Fall; rather than the Winter and Spring. In summer you can go to man made ponds like Heath Beach, or even go for a swim at the Wave Pool. You can also go out side and play some backyard football or volleyball at the local recreational centers. I do have to admit, nothing is worse than being stuck inside on a cold winter day. Winter is just depressing. Many people seem to forget about all the board games sitting in the back of the closet. Nothing beats the feeling of blowing the dust of that old board game that you used to play as a child. Spring can be a little better than winter. It all depends on that great Michigan weather. Some days it will be in the 60's and you can go throw the football outside with just a hoodie and sweat pants; but then again there are the days that feel like it's below 0 degrees outside. All you can do is be miserable. There is always something to do where every you are. Next time you feel bored, try to be creative and attempt to do something constructive.

The Positive Look.

The youth of Downriver typically says, " I hate Downriver; there's nothing to do here." Well this could be considered to be a bad thing. However, Downriver has plenty of good to offer. The most important is the fact that nothing bad ever happens here. The police blotter typically consists of just juvenile members of the community committing misdemeanors like penny theft. This makes the members of the community feel safe. Another quality aspect of Downriver is the tightly knitted communities. It is safe to say, " Everyone knows everyone." The reason is because each city has strong interaction with each other, and many members of the community are from here. Building on this idea, the individual city pride is extremely strong. As a former athlete at Trenton High School, nothing was better than suiting up and playing a neighboring city. It was awesome to practice all week focusing on being the superior city of Downriver. High school sports is one of the best parts of Downriver is without a doubt; it is a tradition that is passed down from the older members of the community to the younger ones. I remember selling various goodies or boosters for my sports teams. This was an exciting experience going door to door. The reason is because of all the stories to be told. It was always so great to hear, "You're here with the football team, I was a captain of the 1974 team." It was moments like that which made me feel proud of what I was doing. Summing up Downriver, it is a truly great community because of its safety, tradition, and interaction with each city.

Stereotypes of Downriver Michigan

Stereotypes are commonly held public beliefs of specific groups or organisations. I like to think that the Downriver is very diverse. There are many different ethnic groups, culture, religion and generally specific ways that people like to live.There are so many different types, it would be near impossible to cover all of them. I see the Downriver as a blend of groups around each other. There are some places they can be segregated; but there are many places that are equally blended. Detroit is a common example of a segregated area in the Downriver. 80% of Detroit has African American residents. The Downriver seems to have a great variety of religions. As read in the article,

"http://www.city-data.com/states/Michigan-Religions.html," Roman Catholic members are one the dominant percent of religion in lower Michigan. There are religions such as Jewish, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity, and many more. Certain places in lower Michigan have different cultural populations. For an example, Dearborn has many middle eastern people for their population; while Trenton, Riverview, and Wyandotte, have many Polish, Italian, and Germans living together. People even classify them selfs by their social economic status. Rich people own the big properties while the non-wealthy live in cities with run down schools. A big stereotype being looked at right now in lower Michigan is the homeless. With the economy going down the drain, the homeless rate of lower Michigan is skyrocketing. This is increasing crime rates, and decreasing the amount of healthy people living downriver.http://dsimmer.com/2009/02/1/detroit-homelessness-economic-meltdown. This is truly sad.

Teens of the Downriver Michigan Community

Out of the many communities that I had to choose from, I chose the one that I feel is most important for our future. The community that I will be talking about over the course of this semester will be, "Teens of the Downriver Michigan Community." This is a huge community. I think that there will be many things to write about with this community. I am hoping it can relate to many people in the downriver community. I am proud to be a part of this community. I feel that this is my home. This is my territory that I grew up in.By the name ,"Downriver," I am referring to a vast amount of people scattered all over lower Michigan. Teens that grew up going places like the Metro Park wave pool, or even Elisabeth Park in down town Trenton. In my mind I see downriver as average. I see it as quiet; but very upbeat.

I am a part of this community and I believe that it is a great place to grow up. In most places there is little violence, and there are many city wide opportunities to expand your developing mind in great schools. Where there are good things in life, there are also bad things lurking around. Drugs are a schools main issue. But is there any non-drug public school in Michigan? I am glad that I have chosen this community that I am apart of. I know I will have a good time studying it.