The pie in the sky, moralistic, utopian sound bites that come from the Southerland Institute sound mighty nice on the surface, but they bear no resemblance to the real world.

Spell out some specific proposals to back up your generalized rhetoric for a change, and show the readers of this forum that there in fact is some substance to your pontificating.

In 2010 there were 1971 reported cases of chlamydia in the 15 -19 age group.  This represents 899.4 cases per 100,000 students or .90% rounded. 

Do we dismiss the nearly 2,000 sexually active high school students who contracted a STD by saying that less than 1% our students became infected and therefore it is not a problem.  Or do we address the problem of nearly 2,000 students a year contracting chlamydia by providing information on how to prevent the spread of STD’s in our public schools.  My answer would be a resounding yes to the second choice.

Before I get the uniformed response that we have had sex education in the high schools and it apparently hasn’t worked, let me remind you that the law as it is written makes teachers very wary about what they can teach about contraceptives and what they can’t.  As a result there is currently very little helpful information given to students. Steve Urquhart had an excellent bill last year to remedy this situation, but unfortunately he got screwed by members of his own party on the committee (without protection I might add).

The bottom line is Utah has a problem, and will continue to have a problem in this area that accurate and timely information can help solve, sticking our heads in the sand and crossing our fingers hoping that students will not be sexually active will not.

Those are 1,800 Utah high school students who are sexually active, and are not getting effective information on how to prevent STD’s in the home.  We owe it to those students who are not going to be “abstinent” no matter how many times adults say the word to give them up to date accurate medical information on sexually transmitted diseases and how to prevent their spread.

Just because there was a drop in reported cases of Gonorrhea from 150 in 2007 to 50 in 2009 does not statistically mean that there is not a problem in Utah.  Those numbers can and will go up again unless students are given the information they need to protect themselves in the event they become sexually active.

Ignorance has never been the “Gold Standard” in any society and we should not make the mistake of putting our heads in the sand on this important  public health issue for the sake of the well being of our school age children.

I taught elementary school for three years in a tiny, very rural Utah town where boys frequently went off on missions and left a pregnant girl behind.  The very conservative residents there didn’t worry about it, because “they’re cowboys.  Besides, they’ll marry her when they come home.”

Yet residents in this town were featured on TV a few years ago as a place where 100% of voters voted for Bush/Cheney — twice.

And as a former elementary teacher (grades 4 – 6), I can tell you Utah’s children need good sex education and that many, many are not going to get it at home.