Avoiding my Sex Education Bias

For my midterm assignment story, "Report brings Utah sex education and STD prevention into the spotlight," I decided to elaborate on a story I read in the tribune by Heather May called, "Silence, no match for increasing STD rate."
I had the opportunity to take sex education in two different states. I first took a sex education class in Washington at Gig Harbor High School, and then moved to Utah my Junior year where I learned that Lone Peak High School wanted me to take their sex education class too. The difference between the two was staggering. I had gotten all the details at my school in Washington, a comprehensive program, and felt that Lone Peak's abstinence based instruction was too vague. To be honest I felt that I didn't even really learn what sex was other than I shouldn't do it. Lone Peak didn't tell me what happens before or after sex, they just let me know that if I did in fact have sex, which should be only after marriage, then my eggs would be fertilized by his sperm. Where were the condoms and birth control talks? What about information on Oral sex and how that transmits STDs, and by the way, what is oral sex? Oh you can't tell me? I see...Not everyone is going to wait until they are married to have sex. Only 51% of Utah is of the LDS faith, it is unrealistic to think that abstinence only education is going to prevent people from having sex. Not only did they not teach me this information in ONE DAY, oh no, I also had to have a permission slip. They crammed all the sex education instruction into one day, and for the other 60 days I learned about who I was emotionally and mentally, and don't forget the career packets we worked on for 3 WEEKS!
Now just to clarify, I am LDS, I am not having sex until I get married because I realize the ramifications of sex, and believe that procreation is the number one reason for sex. I don't believe in sex before marriage, but I am also a realistic person, and realize that half of the state of Utah does not share my values and beliefs. Teenagers are going to have sex, they are curious, they will find it whether you try to hide it from them or not, so you might as well help them learn to do it safely.
Needless to say, I was grateful that I had learned sex education outside of Utah, because I sure didn't learn it in Utah. So with this background information, and my obvious bias, this piece was very difficult for me to write. I had to be extremely careful about leaving my opinions out of the paper, and overall I was very pleased with the way my article turned out. I think from reading it, without knowing me, it would be very hard to tell which way I leaned on the issue, but in closing, all I have to say is Knowledge is Power.

My Paper Opposing John McCains "Plan for Victory in Iraq"

I am opposing U.S.U. 13: The Victory over Terrorism Act. The enactment of this measure will change the current U.S. policy by increasing troops in Iraq, accelerating the rate of the training and equipping of Iraqi armed forces and police, and accelerating political and economic reconstruction. This will change the current policy on the Iraq war, which is very similar, by intensely increasing our troop numbers, accelerating efforts to make Iraq a stable democracy, staying in Iraq at all costs until victory is accomplished, and an increase in funding for the war (McCain).
My opponents favor U.S.U. 13 because, as John McCain says, "Defeat in the war would lead to much more violence in Iraq, greatly embolden Iran, undermine U.S. allies such as Israel, likely lead to wider conflict, result in a terrorist safe haven in the heart of the Middle East, and gravely damage U.S. credibility throughout the world." Because of these things, my opponents feel that increased and continual efforts are necessary, and that we must remain in Iraq until we have succeeded in creating a utopia. (McCain)
U.S.U. 13 should be opposed, and we should begin the withdrawal of troops from Iraq by 2009, mainly because the cost of this war does not warrant what little benefit we have gained from its engagement. The war to date has cost nearly 500 billion dollars, and is projected to cost well over a trillion dollars before it is finished (APM). The Iraq war is also vastly unpopular with both the voters, and an overwhelming majority of the world. Nearly 4000 U.S. troops have died, along with over 600,000 Iraqi civilians, and the progress made in the last five years has not been enough to justify these statistics (Lewis). The current policy on the Iraq War was recently pegged by the Joint Economic Committee to cost about $1.3 trillion, however, Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz predicted the number will ultimately reach $3 trillion (APM). Stiglitz also said, "Had we waited for the outcome of the U.N. weapons inspections, the value of the information would arguably have saved the nation at least $1 trillion — enough to fix Social Security for the next 75 years twice over." (Hanley) USU.13 would end up costing the country much more than this estimate, especially because there is no projected end in sight. John McCain says, “The American people also deserve to know that the path ahead will be long and difficult. They have heard many times that the violence in Iraq will subside soon - when a transitional government is in place, when Saddam is captured, when elections are held, when a constitution is in place. John McCain believes it is far better to describe the situation just as it is - difficult right now, but not without hope.” There is no projected end of the war with this bill. Funding would need to be appropriated for the “greater military commitment,” that McCain describes, for the training of the Iraqi military and police force, and for the vast restructuring of Iraq in general (McCain). With no cap on spending, who knows what kind of economic burden this country could be facing. As Rep. John Murtha said, the full costs of this war have not yet been felt because the US is "put[ting] a trillion-dollar war on a credit card and leav[ing] the bills for our children to pay." (LaFranchi)

The cost of life that has been paid for the current policy of this war, is enough to not take any chances on prolonging it. As stated earlier there have been over 600,000 civilian casualties, and nearly 4000 troops have lost their lives. Not only are we putting our troops in danger, but the number of civilian lives lost is colossal. There has not been enough progress to indicate that this huge sacrifice was necessary. Soldiers are also returning from the war with several mental illnesses, in what is being called “A Suicide Epidemic.” In data reviewed from all fifty states in 2005, there were at least 6,256 suicides among veterans, and those between the ages of 20 and 24 are hit the
hardest. Their suicide rate was two to four times higher than civilians of the same age (CBS). We are not only putting our troops in danger on the field, but the affects of war are leaving emotional scars that are just as devastating.

McCain wants to bolster troop numbers, and has used the latest success of the troop surge as evidence that more U.S. military establishment in Iraq will help promote peace. However, the current progress claimed in Iraq due to troop surge is vastly exaggerated. Rageh Omaar states, “The reality is that the surge is not what has led to the lower levels of violence, and attacks on US troops are still causing considerable casualties. What has had a far greater impact has been the decision by the radical Shia cleric Moqtada al-Sadr to call a ceasefire between his Mahdi army, a force of up to 100,000, and US troops and Iraqi government security units.” Many of Sadr’s commanders are urging him to end the ceasefire and carry out revenge attacks again. If Sadr listens to his grass-roots supporters, the lull in the violence will end immediately, and no boost of troop levels will have any effect. “The greatest success of the surge has been in the way it was sold politically, and thus has become almost unquestioningly accepted as a panacea for the violence in Iraq,” Omaar said. (Omaar).

The number of Iraqis killed in February rose by 33 percent over January, and official figures show a reversing six-month trend of reduced violence, in a setback to the US military plan to curb Iraq's bloodshed (AFP). This is evidence that the lull in violence is coming to an end, and that many more lives are going to be needlessly lost if we continue to fight this war.

Public opinion in the United States shows that the vast majority of people oppose this war. McCain says, “If efforts in Iraq do not retain the support of the American people, the war will be lost as soundly as if our forces were defeated in battle.” (McCain). Since the summer of 2005, opponents of the war have tended to outnumber supporters and a majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake. Most Americans support the idea of a timetable for withdrawal of troops from Iraq, specifically when asked, Americans seem to prefer keeping troops for only about another year. My proposal is that we begin withdrawing troops in 2009, which is the one year time table the American people are demanding. Voting for USU.13 would be in direct opposition of the voter’s opinion. (Gallup)

Echoing the American people, if not emphasizing them, is the opinion of the world. The war has been vastly unpopular with the international world, and the continuity of it has shown a decline in support from our allies. The BBC conducted a World Service poll of more than 26,000 people across 25 different countries, which, as the United States government prepared to send a further 21,500 troops to Iraq, revealed that three in four (73%) disapprove of how the US government has dealt with Iraq. We have lost the support of the international community, and we cannot afford this. It is imperative that the United States remain in good favor with the world to maintain healthy public relations. Blatantly ignoring the world’s opinion will greatly hurt America. (BBC)

If the world’s opinion is not enough, the opinion of the Middle East itself should be considered. Muslim-majority countries, as well as 75 percent of American Muslims and 70 percent of British Muslims, believe the "War on Terrorism" actually is a "War on Islam." A growing number of people, both at home and abroad, believe the U.S. is fighting this war in order to control world oil supplies, achieve world hegemony and support Israel (Hanley).

We went to war in the first place to fight terrorism, and our efforts have not been completely in vain. We have captured or killed over 5000 terrorists since September 11^th (Ross). The next goal in this war was to bring democracy and freedom to the Iraqi people. However, in the process of bringing democracy and ending terrorism, 600,000 innocent civilian lives have been taken, which gives us a ratio of one terrorist captured or killed for every 120 civilians killed. Have we really made the world a safer place by capturing these terrorists and by making efforts to stabilize the Middle East, or have our efforts just added kindling to the fire? If we have made some progress, is it enough in comparison for how much we have had to pay for it? In the latest poll, taken on September 2007, on whether the Iraq war has made the U.S. safer or less safe to Terrorism attacks, it was the opinion of 40% of the U.S. public that the U.S. was more safe, while 49% believed it to be less safe, and 10% felt that our efforts had made no change. It should be noted that this poll has been conducted five times since June 2005, and in every poll the majority of the public said that the war had made America less safe. (Gallup)

The costs of this war have proven to far outweigh the benefits. The American people and the majority of the world are largely opposed to the war, and many believe that it has only worsened the situation in the Middle East. The United States’ spending on the war will affect generations to come, and the copious spending needs to be ended, not extended. U.S.U. 13 should be opposed, and we should begin the withdrawal of troops from Iraq in 2009. It is time to admit defeat, listen to the voters and the international community, bring our troops home, and end the unnecessary deaths that have occurred. We cannot fight for this cause any longer, the cost to the United States is too high.

Citations

(AFP) Iraq violence surges in February, 1 Mar. 2008 (http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gsNMHnHpeQNKTLKuu2JDBdz_vtqg)

(APM) Iraq War could cost trillions more. American Public Media 28 Feb. 2008 (http://marketplace.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/02/28/3_trillion_for_war)

(BBC) World Service Poll, BBC, 23 Jan. 2007 (http://www.pbs.org/weta/crossroads/incl/bbcpoll.pdf)

(CBS) Suicide Epidemic Among Veterans, CBS News, 13 Nov. 2007 (http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/11/13/cbsnews_investigates/main3496471.shtml)

(Gallup) Polls on Iraq (http://www.gallup.com/poll/1633/Iraq.aspx)

(Hanley) The Terrible Costs of Bush's Reckless "War on Terror", Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs, Nov 2006

(http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?vid=10&hid=17&sid=a51f80b1-c250-48d7-b205-91d5fb7fc281%40sessionmgr7)

(LaFranchi) Howard LaFranchi. For Candidates, Iraq Debate shifts, Christian Science Monitor, 25 Feb. 2008 (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=30106341&site=ehost-live)

(Lewis) Kristen Lewis. To Iraq and Back, Scholastic Scope, 4 Feb. 2008 (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=28633031&site=ehost-live)

(McCain) Strategy for Victory in Iraq (http://www.johnmccain.com/informing/issues/fdeb03a7-30b0-4ece-8e34-4c7ea83f11d8.htm)

(Omaar) Rageh Omaar. The illusory success of the surge, New Statesman, 25 Feb. 2008 (http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=30016470&site=ehost-live)

(Ross) The Blotter:CIA: 5,000 Terrorists Captured or Killed, Brian Ross (http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/cia_5000_terror.html)

New report brings Utah sex education and the availability of STD prevention resources into the spotlight

Utah has always been considered a relatively safe place to live, especially Logan, which has been declared for two of the last three years to be the safest metropolitan place in America. However, there is a monster lurking in the shadows, and it is not the Bogeyman. Rates of sexually transmitted diseases, gonorrhea and chlamydia in particular, are rising at alarming rates in Utah.

Heather May, a writer for The Salt Lake Tribune, recently said in her article, Silence no match for increasing STD rate, that "Utah's rate of gonorrhea cases jumped faster than anywhere else from 2000 to 2005."

More than 6,400 Utahns were infected with gonorrhea or chlamydia last year.

Gonorrhea affects an estimated 700,000 people in the United States every year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said gonorrhea is spread through contact with the penis, vagina, mouth or anus, and that ejaculation does not have to occur for the disease to be transmitted. Untreated gonorrhea can cause a variety of serious health problems, including pelvic inflammatory disease, which can lead to infertility in women.

The problem with gonorrhea, is that sometimes the symptoms are so mild people do not realize they have contracted the disease, which holds serious implications for pregnant women, who can pass the infection onto their babies during delivery, which can cause blindness, joint infections, or a possibly fatal blood infection in the baby.

With such serious implications, public-health officials are trying to find a solution to the rising STD rate and target the source of the problem, but where does the blame lie?

May said health care providers in particular are trying to place the blame on Utah's abstinence-based sexual education curriculum taught in High Schools, claiming that they lack the proper instruction to help adolescents know how to have safe sex.

Annabel Sheinberg, the education director for the Planned Parenthood Association of Utah, said, "The Utah Health Education Core Curriculum is more comprehensive than the public perceives it to be. The majority of school districts have an abstinence based policy that allows high school teachers to explain contraception 'per package instructions', and transmission and prevention of Sexually Transmitted Infections including HIV."

The mis perception "is that Utah state law on Human Sexuality Education prevents teachers from advocating for sex outside of marriage, advocating homosexuality, explaining the intricacies of intercourse and advocacy or encouragement of the use of contraception," Sheinberg said. "The Utah Health Core Curriculum has good standards and teachers ought to be supported in covering those standards. Currently we have a disconnect between what is allowed by Utah Law and Policy and what most people perceive is allowed. There needs to be additional work done to address this gap so that teachers have the support they need to teach students."

Abby Palmer, a USU student studying to be a public health educator, said, "A major concern that I have as a health educator is that parents will not allow their students to learn about sexual education."

"I really feel that sexuality education is important, and everyone should have the opportunity to be able to receive information that will make them a healthy individual throughout there life."
Palmer said she feels that parents aren't supportive of the things that are taught, because "many students parents never had sexuality education," which makes it hard for teachers to feel comfortable in their classrooms when instructing students on sexual health matters.

"I really feel like the system in Utah is adequate enough," Palmer said, but suggested that in order for the sex educational system to gain more parental support, "parents should also be taught the same things that their students are being taught so they can see that we aren't giving too much information, but enough to keep them safe."

Still, some disagree that the abstinence-based sex education program is comprehensive enough.KUTV covered a story on Feb. 18 about junior high kids lobbying at the Capitol on President's Day for better sex education. The report quoted one teen saying, "They're just telling us not to have sex. They're not telling us how to have protected sex," while another teen said, "Teachers can only say not to do it, but we need to be told about safe sex, so we'll know what we're doing."

KUTV also featured a statement from Representative Ron Bigelow telling the kids that parents, instead of teachers, should tell kids about safe sex.

Scott Bradley, a Member of Utah Eagle Forum, who shares Bigelow's opinion, said it is far better for families to take care of educating their children on sex.

"Leave it within the family, it shouldn't be in public schools," Bradley said. "I think that there were far fewer problems such as teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, before the government began to interfere in sex education."

Susan Ashley, a retired health educator, said sex education left to parents who took the time to properly educate their kids "would be great if they did that, but they don't do that."

"Sometimes it is easier for a stranger to talk to kids about sex than their own parents," Ashley said. "As long as they just give them the information, and they don't make judgments about how they should use it, or not use it, knowledge is safety. It's when you don't know about stuff that you can be fooled by people and get in a lot of trouble, so I think it is very important."

Ashley said that she doesn't feel there are enough resources available in Utah that provide information on STD's, because "people think its better if no one knows about it, I think they think that way it won't happen or something. It's a health issue, not a moral issue, so they should make it available."

Whatever position Utahns take on the sex education debate, most agree that something has to be done about the rising STD rate, and congress is rapidly looking for solutions.

One solution is house bill 15(HB15), which would allocate $350,000 to a media campaign on STD risks, testing and treatment.

This bill has found great support in both the house and senate, and is passing with ease thanks to support from the Utah Eagle Forum.

To get actively involved in fighting rising STD rates, contact your local representative, and express your support for HB15, and other bills like it. Fred R. Hunsaker is the representative for district four, which includes Logan, and he can be reached at fhunsaker@utah.gov.