My teen will skip the abstinence pledge
It's hard to believe there are still public schools that ask teens to sign pledges that they will be virgins until they get married.
According to a study by Columbia University, 88 percent of teens break these pledges. It's clear these vows are made under pressure and do not work.
At the Open House at our high school last week, I was shocked to hear my daughter's health teacher say she was inviting one of these abstinence programs, called Be The One, into her classroom. And yes, she said when I asked her in an e-mail the next day, they are going to ask the kids to sign the pledge.
The national teen pregnancy rate is going down, but it's not because of abstinence programs funded by the federal government. According to the Guttmacher Institute, the rate is going down because kids are getting more savvy about contraception.
So that is what health classes should be teaching. As for me, I told my daughter she does not have to sign the pledge.
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