Goodman: Sex Ed Silliness in TX (textbooks: marriage in,contraception out)

[DeepModem Mom]

Washington Post:
Sex Ed Silliness in Texas

By Ellen Goodman
Saturday, November 13, 2004; Page A29

BOSTON -- Here it is, just days after the red states gave their presidential seal of approval to the man from Texas, and we've already been treated to another skirmish in the culture wars. The Texas Board of Education has now given its educational seal of approval to what may soon be dubbed Red Sex Ed.

The big news is the state's successful demand that textbook publishers change the description of marriage between "two people" to marriage between "a man and a woman." They also ordered that marriage be defined as "a lifelong union between a husband and a wife."

Frankly, I found the "lifelong" description charming considering that the Lone Star State has one of the highest divorce rates in the country. Massachusetts, by the way, has the lowest divorce rate in the country. We are so fond of marriage that we want everyone to do it.

But never mind all that. The real heart of the textbook controversy is whether Texas students should learn about contraception. And the answer is no.

Texas has now officially gone to abstinence-only textbooks. The students are learning the ABCs of sex education without the C. And as Texas, the second-largest book buyer in the country, goes, so may go the nation....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A46799-2004Nov12.html

[tk2kewl]

1. They should teach homosexuality as birth control. /nt

[Sleepysage]

2. Maybe they should just go back to arranged marriages

And betrothal. That seems to be where they're headed.

[kiki]

3. "And as Texas, the second-largest book buyer in the country, goes..."

Sure he didn't mean "second-largest book BURNER"?

[tandot]

4. Lets just keep those teenagers stupid

The red States, including Texas, have a high rate of teen pregnancy:

http://www.teenpregnancy.org/america/statisticsDisplay.asp?ID=4&sID=44

It shows the hypocrisy of the Bible Belt States: Pretending to be holier than us "latte-drinking liberals" while they ignore their own "values"

A Bush supporter's values: "Do as I preach...not as I do"