This piece has been moved from my original blog. If you read my blog regularly, you have probably read this piece as well.
Utah is a beautiful state, and I have lived here all my life. There is actually a rich culture here if you look for it, but it is hard to spot at first.
In this state as our generation is getting older and forming our own opinions, there seems to be a wider gap from our parents, or even their parents more "traditional" or as I would say it "narrow" views.
This state is so driven by religion and ideology that it is difficult to be educated about different views or even what the truth behind them are. The Zion Curtain is a term that I believe is becoming more literal as days pass and the older generations begin to force the curtain in front of our eyes to create an "ignorance is bliss" way of life. Is this better?
One of the biggest debates nationwide is the "abstinence only" approach to teaching sex ed. So in order to teach sex ed, they want to remove all the sex from it. Doesn't make much sense to me either. While this debate picks up heat around the nation...it is just how things are here in Utah...however, that doesn't make it right. If you ignore teenage sex is that going to make it go away?
The current statistic would show that 93 percent of American men and 80 percent of American women between ages 18 and 59 were not virgins on their wedding night. So, it would show me that the "abstinence only" program that costs an estimated $50 million a year is helping out about 7% of men, and 20% of women. You people deserve a real pat on the back, I mean really.
Realistically, many teenage children are not going to wait to have sex until they're married. In a culture where it is becoming increasinly more "normal" for young adults to have sex, this would increase peer pressure. While I am not saying that teens are telling eachother that it is ridiculous that they aren't screwing their boyfriend or girlfriend in the bathroom. The fact that all your friends are doing it is going to make pre-marital sex far less taboo than it may have been 20 years ago. If everyone else is doing it...they're going to do it too. It's the teenage mentality.
I myself was a teenage mother, and if I were to look back to my highschool years, I couldn't tell you ONE person that was always talking about "saving it for marraige." Hell, the saving it for marraige thing has practically become the saving it for prom night thing.
In addition to downfall of teenage pregnancy there are many different types of sexually transmitted infections, or diseases you could get. Some could greatly affect your life or even kill you. Without teaching young adults about the differences in contraception we are leaving it up to pop-culter to decide. Thank God that the Yaz commercials let you know that "the pill" cannot protect you from AIDS because we know that the educaters aren't passing this information along.
One thing that many might say is that they should be learning these things from their parents. The truth of the matter is that not all kids are ready to talk to their parents about sex when they are 15 or 16 years old, and not all parents know when their children are at the point where they need to have "The Talk." It is just unrealistic to expect that the conversation is going to happen in all instances. Mom's not going to pull out the dental dam and explain how to use it, or show her son how to roll a condom on to a banana.
The other place I feel the education system is lacking is in drug education in schools. I am not saying we need to bring back the D.A.R.E program which clearly was un effective, but don't tell children that a cigarette is the same heroin or that weed is the same as crack. The same type of unintentional peer pressure occurs here. I couldn't find a study with the estimated numbers....but a lot of yound adults at least try smoking marijuana once. If you told them pot is the same as crack, they are going to find out it isn't that bad the first time they smoke it. Maybe next time....they'll try crack. Honesty is key.
Another example of the "Zion Curtain" and perhaps a more appropriate one is the new law that they are attempting to pass that says a restaurant would need to have a ten foot wall in front of a bar in their establishment... Is it the Ebola Virus? Do we need to contain it? Someone quick! Again, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there. I haven't the slightest idea what they feel this would even accomplish.
Aside from making our already crazy alcohol laws look even better to the tourists that come into our state, I cannot see a single benefit from this. They feel that it may decrease drunk driving or underage drinking. It isn't going to decrease drunk driving! Not going to have any affect on underage drinking! which are the only two concerns that I can allign with. Again, these are things that people need to be educated about. You can't just hide it forever and think it is going to go away.
In semmation...I am hopeful that when our generation grows up to be law-makers we do not make the same mistakes are parents made, and their parents before them made and forget where we came from and what we went through in our journey to adulthood. Education is always the key. We cannot expect our youth to make good decisions when they are completely un-informed on subjects like drugs, alcohol or sex..
Utah is a beautiful state, and I have lived here all my life. There is actually a rich culture here if you look for it, but it is hard to spot at first.
In this state as our generation is getting older and forming our own opinions, there seems to be a wider gap from our parents, or even their parents more "traditional" or as I would say it "narrow" views.
This state is so driven by religion and ideology that it is difficult to be educated about different views or even what the truth behind them are. The Zion Curtain is a term that I believe is becoming more literal as days pass and the older generations begin to force the curtain in front of our eyes to create an "ignorance is bliss" way of life. Is this better?
One of the biggest debates nationwide is the "abstinence only" approach to teaching sex ed. So in order to teach sex ed, they want to remove all the sex from it. Doesn't make much sense to me either. While this debate picks up heat around the nation...it is just how things are here in Utah...however, that doesn't make it right. If you ignore teenage sex is that going to make it go away?
The current statistic would show that 93 percent of American men and 80 percent of American women between ages 18 and 59 were not virgins on their wedding night. So, it would show me that the "abstinence only" program that costs an estimated $50 million a year is helping out about 7% of men, and 20% of women. You people deserve a real pat on the back, I mean really.
Realistically, many teenage children are not going to wait to have sex until they're married. In a culture where it is becoming increasinly more "normal" for young adults to have sex, this would increase peer pressure. While I am not saying that teens are telling eachother that it is ridiculous that they aren't screwing their boyfriend or girlfriend in the bathroom. The fact that all your friends are doing it is going to make pre-marital sex far less taboo than it may have been 20 years ago. If everyone else is doing it...they're going to do it too. It's the teenage mentality.
I myself was a teenage mother, and if I were to look back to my highschool years, I couldn't tell you ONE person that was always talking about "saving it for marraige." Hell, the saving it for marraige thing has practically become the saving it for prom night thing.
In addition to downfall of teenage pregnancy there are many different types of sexually transmitted infections, or diseases you could get. Some could greatly affect your life or even kill you. Without teaching young adults about the differences in contraception we are leaving it up to pop-culter to decide. Thank God that the Yaz commercials let you know that "the pill" cannot protect you from AIDS because we know that the educaters aren't passing this information along.
One thing that many might say is that they should be learning these things from their parents. The truth of the matter is that not all kids are ready to talk to their parents about sex when they are 15 or 16 years old, and not all parents know when their children are at the point where they need to have "The Talk." It is just unrealistic to expect that the conversation is going to happen in all instances. Mom's not going to pull out the dental dam and explain how to use it, or show her son how to roll a condom on to a banana.
The other place I feel the education system is lacking is in drug education in schools. I am not saying we need to bring back the D.A.R.E program which clearly was un effective, but don't tell children that a cigarette is the same heroin or that weed is the same as crack. The same type of unintentional peer pressure occurs here. I couldn't find a study with the estimated numbers....but a lot of yound adults at least try smoking marijuana once. If you told them pot is the same as crack, they are going to find out it isn't that bad the first time they smoke it. Maybe next time....they'll try crack. Honesty is key.
Another example of the "Zion Curtain" and perhaps a more appropriate one is the new law that they are attempting to pass that says a restaurant would need to have a ten foot wall in front of a bar in their establishment... Is it the Ebola Virus? Do we need to contain it? Someone quick! Again, just because you can't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there. I haven't the slightest idea what they feel this would even accomplish.
Aside from making our already crazy alcohol laws look even better to the tourists that come into our state, I cannot see a single benefit from this. They feel that it may decrease drunk driving or underage drinking. It isn't going to decrease drunk driving! Not going to have any affect on underage drinking! which are the only two concerns that I can allign with. Again, these are things that people need to be educated about. You can't just hide it forever and think it is going to go away.
In semmation...I am hopeful that when our generation grows up to be law-makers we do not make the same mistakes are parents made, and their parents before them made and forget where we came from and what we went through in our journey to adulthood. Education is always the key. We cannot expect our youth to make good decisions when they are completely un-informed on subjects like drugs, alcohol or sex..
No comments:
Post a Comment