Jessica Williams-DiederichEng 102 sm2Professor RodrigoJuly 9, 2007WP #1 DraftAbstinence-only Sex Education Research ProposalThe topic that I have selected for my research proposal is abstinence-only sex education in high schools across the United States. I am interested in looking at the outcome and results of these type of programs. Such as the rate of increase or decrease for teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease spread amongst teenagers, as well as the rates of increase or decrease for teenage participation in oral sex. My focused research question is; how effective is abstinence-only sex education in preventing teen pregnancy, STD spread, and oral sex participation? This topic is so controversial because the issue of sex and sexuality has always been an uncomfortable issue for Americans. Also, dealing with what is considered right and wrong varies greatly from person to person. Sex is a very individual thing and very personal. Although the decision to have sex or not have sex is an individual one many people are concerned in influencing other people’s decisions (like their children etc). This is where the controversy arises. So many different groups of people such as parents and religious communities want to have their say in the matter and tell people what is right and wrong. Also, politicians are influenced to pass laws regarding the teaching of sex in the classroom by these same groups; basically putting up another barrier for sex education. Personally I went to a high school that was greatly influenced by the predominant religion of the area. This particular religion is extremely conservative to say the least. Therefore, sex education was not encouraged. I had one week of abstinence-only education that came at the end of my driver’s ed course; a course that was not even a requirement for all students to take. This week long lesson focused chiefly on abstinence and saving yourself until marriage. The instructor also informed us about sexually transmitted diseases, but not how to prevent yourself from contracting one. The lesson was… if you have sex before marriage you will get an STD and live with it forever if not die. It was as if they were using scare tactics to teach us not to have sex. It was completely un-educational. It also was designed to make teenagers that were sexually active feel bad. Not only did we never hear about contraceptives, but if we asked any question the answer always came back to abstinence. An example would be if someone asked what could they do to decrease the chance of getting pregnant the only answer given was abstinence. This just forced kids to have sexual intercourse without any real knowledge of what they were getting themselves into. I personally had to research any questions I had on my own, but most teenagers are not that driven.My purpose in writing this research paper is to open peoples’ eyes (specifically parents). I think people assume because teenagers are being taught about abstinence that they are practicing it. However, that is not the case. It is almost the complete opposite. Teenagers are having sex and are doing it without any education on the matter; putting them at greater risk. I will hopefully find reliable information in my research that will shock the readers and make them stop and say, “Wow! This abstinence-only education is not working. We need to find another alternative. There needs to be a change.” My perspective is that abstinence-only sex education does not work. It is in no way beneficial; in fact I believe it is very harmful for today’s youth. The method of teaching abstinence-only sex education does not educate. It forces teenagers to look elsewhere for information and they either are not taking the time to look for it or are going to the wrong places. I do not that that teenagers should be encouraged to go out and have random sex (safe or not), but I do believe they should be given the proper resources to protect themselves and keep themselves safe if they do chose to be sexually active. The main audience I will be focusing my research paper towards parents, specifically parents of teenagers. It seems to me that they are the ones that have the most reason to read (and learn) from my paper. If they read and discover that abstinence-only sex education is not working maybe they will fight for a change, and not look down upon safe-sex education. I think that the audience would want to know what is generally taught in abstinence-only education classes and the results of it (i.e. teen pregnancy rates, STD spread, and teen oral sex participation). I think they need to know the things listed above as well as possibly why abstinence-only sex education is so predominant. I think if they see politicians are passing these laws for financial support etc. from religious groups and such they might see how irrational the program actually is. There are several limitations and challenges with any research project. With my topic specifically I am worried about finding strong, factual, reliable information. I know it is out there, but I feel like I will have to dig for it; which is fine because that’s what research is all about. However, I have to be aware that I may not find all the information on each sub-topic that I am looking at. I fear that it might be difficult to find research on why abstinence-only sex education is so predominant in the United States as a whole, but I won’t find out until I start researching. Honestly I have no set timeline for conducting research, and even if I did I know I would not stick to it. So I plan to research in separate topic areas. Those areas being; why is abstinence-only sex education so predominant in the U.S., the rate of increase or decrease for teenage pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease spread amongst teenagers, and rates of increase or decrease for teenage participation in oral sex.
There were not that many suggestions when I turned this paper in. There were minor spelling and grammar errors that I corrected. I appreciated the feed back I got from everyone. This writing project helped a lot with labeling and determining very important apsects of a research paper. It made the final paper a lot easier to write.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment