A third of American teens aren't taught about birth control

[cynatnite]

(CBS) A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says nearly all teens in the U.S. have had some sort of formal sex education, but about a third of them haven't learned about birth control.

CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton, a teen health expert and the author of "The Body Scoop for Girls," said she's not surprised by those statistics.

"There is no standardization across the board as to how we teach sex ed or reproductive health, if you will, to our teenagers. People who teach the class may not be formally trained. In fact, across the board, only about 18 percent of sex-ed teachers have had formal training in the subject. Some of them may not want to teach the subject. Gym teachers, driver's ed teachers may be told, 'This is what you are teaching.' They might not want to teach it."

"Early Show" co-anchor Harry Smith said, "It's almost a throw-away thing in a lot of schools."

Ashton replied, "It can be. Of course, the teacher will bring his or her own values into what they're teaching. This is a difficult topic even for parents, for doctors so it's no surprise that the people teaching it may bring their own issues."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/09/20/earlyshow/living/parenting/main6884265.shtml

[elocs]

1. Even when they are taught they still have to use it. n/t

[customerserviceguy]

2. Is it impossible for kids to find it on the Internet?

You pretty much can't keep anything hidden from younger people these days, it's not like when I was a kid, and all of adult society had a lock on the knowledge about sex.

[proud2BlibKansan]

3. I got to sit through a week of what passes for sex ed in my state last year

It was for 8th graders. The 'teacher' was a 20 something young Christian man. On the first day, he showed them pictures of venereal disease. Gross pictures. And he told them there are STDs you can get without having had any sexual contact at all.

Day Two he told them the media wants them to have sex.

Day Three he told them if they played basketball they wouldn't want to have sex. And they could become rich NBA players. (I gathered the girls were supposed to hook up with one of the boys and he would share his wealth with her.)

I tuned him out the last two days. Couldn't stand it anymore.

And no, this kid never once mentioned birth control. He just told these kids not to have sex ever. Until they were married.