THE STATE OF AMERICAN EDUCATION TODAY

Ohio. (Brought to you by the bewildered but perky NewsNet5 news team)

(Thanks to Regan Wieland)

Comments

[Dave]

A three-prong program? Seems to me they have too many prongs already.

[TCK]

"School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies..."

I think that may be the problem right there

[BigD®]

"The newspaper also reported that students will face mounting tensions..."

I think there was already too much mounting.

[jamie the star wars nerdgirl]

i'm suddenly ashamed to be from that area. but at least i'm in college and NOT pregnant. or a mother. yet. for a few years, hopefully.

[Idle Warship]

The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.

Ummm, there definitely seems to be a need for some classes here.

(apparently you can't say "$ex-ed classes")

[jamie the star wars nerdgirl]

i went to a catholic school around there (no catholic schoolgirl jokes, thanks) and we definitely learned $ex-ed. no one got pregnant until after we got out of catholic school. then one girl got knocked up twice. before she was 16. sad.

[Mrs. Swooshman (formerly known as Seatazzz)]

The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame. This makes me mad. Let's blame EVERYONE except the damn school districts and legislators who REFUSE to allow such things to be taught in school. ABSTINENCE, INDEED!!! We're talking teenage hormones here! That do NOT know the meaning of the word!

*sound of head exploding*

[Sean]

Gimme an "O" !

[jamie the star wars nerdgirl]

sean, please. they're all in high school. none of the guys they did it with are any good, i guarentee it. the least they could do if they were gonna knock those girls up is give 'em an "o."

[Mrs. Swooshman (formerly known as Seatazzz)]

Okay, I'm calmed down now. Actually there really is no one group you can blame (except for W, and we promised judi we would knock it off with the political argumentsdiscussions) but still....something needs to be done.

[sct72]

fed ex classes? what would that have to do with pregnancy?

Oh, wait.

[Robert F.T.W.]

The article reported that ...videogames ...may all be to blame.

Wow, girls are different now than when I was in high school. If I suggested that a girl come over to play videogames, I'd just get a smirk a rolling of the eyes. Now guys are getting a roll in the hay?

The times, they are a changin'.

Anyone for Donkey Kong?

[TCK]

*brushes piece of Mrs. Swooshman (f/n/a Seatazzz)'s head off sleeve*

I'm not sure the school district in question should be teaching $ex-ed - they don't know what causes pregnancy, but seem to think it involves three prongs of some sort

[VictoriaE77]

I fail to see how W could be responsible. When was he in Ohio?

(Don't flame me! Just a joke! Honestly!)

[queensbee]

The article reported that some would say that movies, TV, videogames, lazy parents and lax discipline may all be to blame.
School officials are not sure they what has caused so many pregnancies ...

i know we all reacted to similar statements, but, uh, duh. this is what happens when school districts decide that sex ed is 'too dirty' or will encourage.. well, you know. well ... guess they didnt know about condoms....

[Brian B]

They haven't correlated the timing of these pregancies to the NFL Hall of Fame induction ceremonies yet, have they?

I'm just sayin'.......

[TCK]

does discussing the Bush twins count as politics??

It's just that, neither of them seems like the abstinent type - and yet, neither has become pregnant...hmmmmmm

[Suzy Q]

Hey, Dave was first! On his own blog!

[Amy]

Someone's bragging about their high scores...

[Eleanor]

Some of the new mothers were 11 years old???
Eleven?????
I don't get it!

[Sean]

Jamie , I meant "O" as in "Ohio"...Well..Also..

[BLT]

Sigh . . . TCK beat me to commenting on "School officials are not sure what has caused so many pregnancies . . ." - with exactly the same comment.

On a more serious note, I would like to remind y'all that condoms are only partially effective (they break, they're only effective if "properly applied," they don't protect against all STD's, etc.), and they're not effective at all if hormone-crazed teenagers don't use 'em. There are studies out that show just how infrequently condoms actually get used by the young male age group - they don't like wearing them for one reason or another, they think they're indestructible. And don't tell me it's the girl's responsibility to get him to wear one, either . . . Frankly, I think teens ought to get both $ex-ed AND abstinence info - the combo might help them think before they leap.

[Higgy]

So they plan a campaign of "Parenting, prevention and planning" - otherwise known as the 3P's. I think this is going too far - they have enough trouble with their P-P's as it is.

[Anite]

I love that for me, the article was accompanied by an ad for credit approval that featured a stretched out, pregnant deer.

[Aunt Nancy]

BLT - your common sense solution is, of course, the best solution, but I haven't seen very many politicians or school administrators who have common sense. More's the pity, isn't it?

[slyeyes]

I remember an article I read a l-o-n-g time ago -- MAY have been a Dave article -- which talked aboutthe irony of couples having difficulty getting pregnant after years of trying not to and everything they go through to get pregnant....yet all a teenage girl has to do is stand downwind of a teenage boy.

Sounds like as though they've been having blustery weather up there in Canton.

[Sondra]

When PARENTS stop being prudes and admit they have $ex and explain to their Own children that they exist because of this, KIDS will be too grossed out by the thought of it to want to have $ex. Duh.

[unconvincedinks]

As an "evil other person in Daddie's life that I didn't care about until I moved from the Canton area because Mommy wasn't treating me like the pregnant 18 year old that I am"....this bugs the hell out of me. It's deliberate, pure and simple. Biased? You bet.

[louis gehrig]

Huh?

[Aunt Nancy]

louis - I'll see your Huh? and raise you a WTFBBQ?

Sondra - this may be TMI, but I used your, um, approach with my 11 year old daughter. Now when I mention having "Mommy and Daddy time" she screams "EEEWWWW!!!" runs to her room and slams the door shut. Her little sister is bewildered, but Big Sister just makes a face and says, "You don't want to know until you're older, trust me."

[BLT]

Aunt N - you said it. Common sense seems a bit thin on the ground whenever politics or school admin enters the arena. (This was not always the case, but school administration in general has been getting more & more political, and politics has been getting less & less sensible . . . .)

My 5-year-old son starts Kindergarten in a week - aieee!

[BLT]

And that may or may not be TMI for the general public, but as a fellow parent I appreciate the story, so I guess it's not TMI for me. Will have to try that tactic in another 5 or 6 years . . . !

[slyeyes]

My son-in-law told me that due to the sex education he got in Catholic school, for quite sometime, he thought the way to make babies was by peeing inside a woman. He said his dad gave him the right info.

[Mahatma Kane Jeeves]

I always thought that sexual intercourse had something to do with it, boy was I wrong!

[MzVette]

Yea, I walked in on my parents right as I was entering Jr. High... that fixed me up good for many a years...*shutters*

[I Hear Dread People]

Saw a billboard yesterday (this may be old news to most of you but I don't get out much) that said "Babies cost $785 each month; how much is your allowance?". I think this should be posted on the front lawn of every school. Cost of living updates could be included with each report card-gallon of gas/ gallon of milk; latest CD/ latest size Pampers, etc. Might bring a little reality into the notion that babies are all bluebirds and lullabyes.

[Scott M]

Nah... all the $785 a month argument will do is encourage more girls to go to their local planned parenthood clinic and get their "unwanted growth" removed. I mean, who wants all that expense? Better to let the taxpayers shoulder the cost of taking away the consequences for you. As long as there's always an easy way out, teens will have no reason to stay abstanant or even use protection. And the threat of STD's is not even much of a deterant. Teens think they're invincible. How else do you explain extreme sports, teen smoking, and binge drinking? Consequences? What consequences? Sex is fun! Weeeeee!

On a lighter note... "a three-prong approach"... now that's funny.

[britta]

I went to an all girls Catholic High School in the area and I would like to state that only one girl in my class (of 53)had a kid before we graduated (I am not going to talk about the ones who graduated pregnent or them plethra of abortions, spontanious or otherwise) . . . so much for abstenince training and keeping us away from boys

[kj]

Don't know if this has any bearing on the place, but did anyone know that the Canton Timken mascot is
The Trojans?

[kj]

I made a hyperlink! My comment made no sense ("bearing on the place"??) but...I made a hyperlink! Yay me!

[cyn]

conga rats kj! lotsa fun huh?

[Avon]

So, kj, that's why! I did notice that one of the photos in the posted sidebar (which at first I had ignored, since the lead photo looked like the signboard from the front lawn of a church) was a window decal of a "Trojans" logo.

I was wondering if it was just a joke by a bored web editor at the TV station.

Now I'm wondering about cause-and-effect, reverse psychology, etc ...