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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2000)
Recycling is elementary. A f* ’"' ' Somewhere along the line we learned how to recycle. And now, recycling on campus is as easy as putting your bottles, cans and news papers in the right places. Heck, you learned how to do that in preschool. You just didn’t know you’d be tested on it later. Campus Recycling 346-1529 Go tfirougli Che motions. Pick up an Emerald at 93 Students learn of AIDS threat, less about overall protection By Anjetta McQueen AP education writer ALEXANDRIA, Va. — A girl in Matthew Wentzel’s class of ninth graders at Minnie Howard School wanted to know who gets HIV/AIDS. “Gay people do,” said a 15-year-old classmate in the back. When Wentzel told them no, statis tics show that among adolescents, heterosexual females are at highest risk, the class was silent. “That’s the basic introduction,” Wentzel told a reporter later. “The realism of this epidemic hasn’t re ally sunk in.” Wentzel says he doesn’t sugar coat the issue. “If you ask, I’m going to give you an honest answer,” he tells his human development class, which includes this northern Vir ginia district’s coursework on sex education. But nationally, sex education les sons might not be as informative, a new report suggests. A survey of 1,501 students and their parents, plus 1,300 educators, found that students learn in school the “birds and bees” basics of how babies are conceived. Most also learn how sex partners can contract diseases. And — because of state policies — many teachers stress ab stinence as a way to prevent HIV/AIDS, other STDs and un planned pregnancy. What’s miss ing, say teachers, students and their parents, are lessons that would help young people avoid such situ ations in the first place. “What’s important is that this class is being taught at the most dif ficult time for them,” Wentzel said. “If sex education is to become part of the curriculum, it has to evolve.” Others say sex education has gone too far, leaving parents out of the process. “Parental control or lack of it is the basic problem, rather than what just happens in schools,” said Liz Alston, the pro-abstinence-only chair of the Charleston County, S.C., school board that’s battled over teaching abstinence only or in cluding lessons about birth control. But the report, conducted by non profit health researchers at the Kaiser Family Foundation and released Tuesday, found that parents want their children to learn more about birth control and safe sex, more than their children reportedly learn. Now reluctant school officials should be more willing to expand their programs, said Ramon Cortines, a former superintendent who now directs a school reform research proj ect at Stanford University. “We tend to be responsive to the politics of rhetoric,” he said. “We now have better information than who can yell the loudest.” For instance, 97 percent of par ents want their children taughthow to deal with sexual assault; just 59 percent of students said they cov ered that in their most recent class. Nine in 10 parents want their chil dren to learn about birth control; eight in 10 students say they do. “Sex education is often debated at the political and advocacy kind of levels, but rarely does it get down to real world discussions,” Tina Hoff, Kaiser’s chief public health re searcher. She said the study is meant to further research on the is sue, not invoke changes in any par ticular state or school board’s poli cies. The margin of error for family and teacher responses is plus or mi nus 3 percentage points. Federal and private research — distributed with the Kaiser study — show declining sexual activity and unplanned pregnancies among teens. However, figures that often raise concerns show that approxi mately 4 million teens will get an STD each year, and nearly half of teens didn’t use condoms in their most recent sexual encounter. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics show that among teens age 13-19, young women, especially black females, are being infected with HIV at high er rates than males. Another survey, released today by reproductive-rights advocates, said teachers in such classes are less likely to introduce information about obtaining birth control, as well as abortion and sexual orienta tion. The Alan Guttmacher Institute said according to its survey — ex clusively of teachers of these cours es — that one in four instructors say they are being told not to teach con traception and focus instead on the abstinence message. “Teachers are covering far less ... than they believe is needed,” said institute president Sara Seims. “Ab stinence messages are very impor tant, but clearly the coverage of con traceptive topics is also crucial.” The Guttmacher Institute re ceives most of its funding from large foundations, though a small amount comes from Planned Par enthood of America. Thirty states mandate that if sex education is taught in schools that they include lessons that encourage teaching young people to remain abstinent until they are emotionally and physically ready for sex. Just 18 states and the District of Colum bia mandate that schools offer sex education at all. Virginia doesn’t tell its districts to provide sex education courses, but requires the ones that do offer such lesson include abstinence and contraceptive use in those lessons. “It’s important to provide op tions,” said Cheryl Mercer, one of four human development teachers at Minnie Howard who cover the district’s sex education curriculum. “They’re all over the map and there’s so much information they’re trying to filter.” • Lube, oil & filter • Vehicle Inpections • Tires Rotated • Wheel Pack • 39 Point Safety Inspection • Transmission Fluiu & Service • Wiper Inspection & Replacement • Differential Service • Radiator Inspection Service • Lighting System Check & Bulb Replacement • Goodwrench Service • Close to Campus • Option to leave your car there when in class • Hit us at Lunch time... we ’re that quick! You’ll get a LIFETIME GUARANTEE** on parts and labor. Plus competitive up-front pricing and courtesy Transportation. 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