The Center for Disease Control (CDC) used to figure out which sex-ed
programs worked and which ones didn’t by measuring stuff like teenage pregnancy
rates. CDC even described some actual “Programs the Work” on their website,
so that other schools could borrow successful models.
Was that a good thing? Not for the Bush and his right-wing-religious supporters.
Because it turned out that not one single program that worked in the real world
was abstinence-only. Programs that worked also taught kids about condoms, information
that schools now promise not to teach if they want money from the CDC.
CDC pulled its description of “Programs that Work” from its website–after all,
if ignorance is good thing for high school kids it must be doubly so for the
schools that serve them.**
Will kids who take abstinence-only drivers’ ed have a hard time passing actual
driving tests?The Bush model solves that problem–replace the old-fashioned
driving test with a new CDC-approved quiz–and, if kids say they think they
can drive, just give them a faith-based license.
The Bush model means we don’t have to keep any records of accidents and injuries
suffered by students who get faith-based licenses. But let’s hope emergency
room physicians didn’t train in med schools that use the same kind of testing…(“You
think you’ll make a good doctor? Okay, you pass,–here’s your M.D. degree and
have a nice day.”) And let’s hope HMOs don’t figure out that the only sure way
to keep people from dying in hospitals is to close those hospitals down and
lock the doors.
* Do abstinence-only programs work? They are to be tested by these
criteria only:
- Proportion of program participants who successfully complete or remain
enrolled in an abstinence-only education program.·
- Proportion of adolescents who understand that abstinence from sexual
activity is the only certain way to avoid out-of-wedlock pregnancy and sexually
transmitted disease.·
- Proportion of adolescents who indicate understanding of the social, psychological,
and health gains to be realized by abstaining from premarital sexual activity.·
- Proportion of participants who report they have refusal or assertiveness
skills necessary to resist sexual urges and advances.·
- Proportion of youth who commit to abstain from sexual activity until
marriage.·
- Proportion of participants who intend to avoid situations and risk, such
as drug use and alcohol consumption, which make them more vulnerable to
sexual advances and urges.
For the real skinny on how the Bush team distorts science with ideology, check out this report from the House Committee on Government Reform.