14 DAY TRIAL // In an era of a staggering speed of scientific discoveries on the field of all sciences, and in this case, of biological sciences, there are still people believing that ethic and religious principles are enough to make sexual education.
When we investigate tiny molecules behind sex, memory or vision, they think that hormone teaming adolescents can be impeded to have sex because they say so.
The results of a recently finished study showed what pragmatists have long known: that abstinence-only sex education is failing.
The students involved in abstinence education programs were not only just as likely as non-participants to have sex, but they also had similar numbers of sexual partners.
The comprehensive, nine-year research made by Mathematica Policy Research monitored four abstinence-only education programs that state officials and experts had found as "promising" and as representative as abstinence-only programs nationally.
The young subjects from a mix of urban and rural settings and with different socioeconomic backgrounds were surveyed over three consecutive school years between 1999 and 2001 and randomly assigned to the program group or to a control group that received only the information available in the community.
Follow-up data were gathered from over 2,000 students in 2005 and 2006, up to 6 years after they entered the research pool.
"This rigorous, well-designed study adds to and confirms previous research findings that abstinence-only education programs are ineffective and a waste of taxpayer dollars," said Sharon L. Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute.
"The twin messages to policymakers are clear: One, stop funding ideology-driven abstinence-only programs. Two, start supporting programs that provide our young people with comprehensive sex education that teaches the benefits of abstinence, but also prepares them to be safe if and when they do become sexually active."
The long-awaited, congressionally mandated evaluation of federally funded abstinence-only-until-marriage education revealed that the recipients were no more likely than non-recipients to delay sexual initiation.
Moreover, the subjects were no more likely to employ condoms or other forms of contraception.
Instead, comprehensive sex education was found by many researches to delay sex and to raise contraceptive use.
The real issue with abstinence education is its roots in absolutism, without adapting to the realities of the current evolving world.
However, the US government spends about $177 million annually on the ineffective abstinence-only programs.