Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Thank you, Pennsylvania

Every once in a while, I regret moving to the "midwest". But articles like this remind why I am happy to live in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is one of many states that rejects millions of dollars of federal funding that would force them to "educate" teenagers as follows:
"Under the grant's restrictions, teachers cannot mention birth control or condoms, except to point out that they fail. They must teach that anything but abstinence has psychological, social, and physical harm, and that heterosexual marriage is the standard, to the exclusion of households with single parents and homosexual couples."

It takes guts to stand up to the Federal government even when 21 other states are following suit. I'd like to think that if I hadn't learned sex-ed in school, I would have found other sources of valid information, but I probably wouldn't have. I know most of my peers wouldn't have. Most of them were having sex before leaving high school and most of them managed to not get pregnant or get diseases. I give thanks to states like Pennsylvania that think part of the reason me and my peers have succeeded so well is because of sex-ed programs and education in general. The importance of education in this world can never be over-stated.

(reference: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08191/895636-51.stm)

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