{"id":19433,"date":"2012-07-30T09:00:13","date_gmt":"2012-07-30T13:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=19433"},"modified":"2013-04-03T22:24:41","modified_gmt":"2013-04-04T02:24:41","slug":"problems-revealed-in-california-sex-education-for-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/problems-revealed-in-california-sex-education-for-students\/","title":{"rendered":"Problems revealed in California sex education for students"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u201cI did everything right. I used protection. How could I have gotten pregnant? How could I have gotten an STD?\u201d I heard this six times in one month from scared clients at the pregnancy resource center (PRC) I volunteered at weekly. After explaining to these devastated girls how their bodies work and the admitted limitations of the birth control they were using, they each said the same thing: \u201cWhy isn\u2019t this<\/em> being taught in school? No one ever told me this<\/em>!\u201d<\/p>\n

Condoms are not magical; they are a thin layer of latex. If there is even the tiniest Herpes sore or HPV wart just beyond the area the condom covers, <\/strong>the condom will not provide protection. That is, if a condom does not cover the sore, it offers 0% protection against the disease the uncovered sore carries. Additionally, birth control pills, patches, shots, and inserts offer 0% protection from disease.<\/p>\n

Public-school sex education should not be about politics or money, but rather about science and the health of our children. Unfortunately, if your child is educated in a California public or even charter school, he or she will most likely be taught that condoms and birth control are the answer to consequence-free sex and therefore have become the educational focus. To clarify, your child is possibly being taught medically inaccurate, biased, misleading information under the banner of \u201cComprehensive Sex Education\u201d and the State-mandated \u201cHIV\/AIDS Prevention Education.\u201d<\/p>\n

Case in point: The American Red Cross HIV\/AIDS Positive Prevention-Comprehensive Sex Education<\/em> curriculum (ARC), which is the \u201cmost commonly used HIV\/STD prevention education curriculum in the state,\u201d instructs students using biased medical inaccuracies. ARC\u2019s Positive Prevention<\/a> curriculum is \u201ca collaborative project of American Red Cross of Orange County, California Department of Education and California Department of Public Health.\u201d The reviewers and technical consultants for the curricula are State Department heads, State education administrators and employees, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services administrators and employees, and those associated with the ACLU and the Gay-Straight Alliance Network.<\/p>\n

If the issues in question were minor and immediately corrected, it would not be a problem – but when tax dollars are used to promote medical inaccuracies, which mislead youth into engaging in risky behavior while simultaneously benefiting the pharmaceutical and abortion industries, immediate action is needed. Bias and objectivity are subjective, so I will focus solely on two medical inaccuracies in the ARC Positive Prevention curriculum at this time:<\/p>\n