Sex Ed Silliness in Texas

The new birth control method in Texas: get sufficient rest.

Ellen Goodman writes in the WaPo that the Texas Board of Education has given its approval for new textbooks which will contain a few changes. The description of marriage between "two people" will now say marriage between "a man and a woman." Marriage will now be defined as "a lifelong union between a husband and a wife." Goodman finds the "lifelong" part a little questionable for Texas since the Lone Star State has one of the highest divorce rates in the nation.

The real heart of the textbook controversy is whether or not Texas students should learn about contraception. Answer: NO! Texas has officially gone to abstinence-only textbooks. These books teach students how to avoid STDs in many ways-- including "getting plenty of rest" -- but not by using condoms. The danger is that, since Texas is the second-largest book buyer in the country, perhaps the whole country will end up with these textbooks.

George Bush can thank his lucky stars that this didn't happen while he was a teenager. But then he probably wouldn't have cared. I don't see him as a particularly responsible young man. Who knows how many little Bush babies may or may not have been conceived back then? There is rumor of at least one abortion.

We also know that abortions have gone up nationwide since Bush has been in office. His message doesn't seem to be getting out. And Texas has the highest teenage birthrate in the country.

Goodman concludes:

In politics we see only the most polarized debate, in which we're told that we have to chose between A for abstinence and C for contraception. In this class, Texas gets an incomplete.

[Click on the blog title to read Ms. Goodman's article in full.]