letter to editorOctober 27, 2011
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2007 executive order mandating that all sixth grade girls in Texas receive the HPV vaccine unless their parents opted out has stirred national controversy and debate. Never mind that the order was subsequently overturned by the Texas legislature, the discussion rightly puts a spotlight on how we educate our children about sexual health.
In the face of rising rates of sexually-transmitted infections and teen pregnancy, and despite evidence demonstrating the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only health education programs, many lobbying and advocacy groups continue to support abstinence-only sexual health education.
Trapped between state mandates and superficial discussions of sexual health topics at home or in school are parents and teachers who are ill-equipped and uncomfortable dealing with topics such as HIV/AIDS, HPV, sexually transmitted infections and family planning. Compounding the problem is the fact that Illinois's current laws on sexual education are vague and outdated, and new legislation (HB 3027: Accurate Sexual Health Bill) has yet to receive legislative approval.
What is needed to prevent teen pregnancies and to reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases is comprehensive, age appropriate, culturally competent and medically accurate sexual health education.
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Texas Gov. Rick Perry's 2007 executive order mandating that all sixth grade girls in Texas receive the HPV vaccine unless their parents opted out has stirred national controversy and debate. Never mind that the order was subsequently overturned by the Texas legislature, the discussion rightly puts a spotlight on how we educate our children about sexual health.
In the face of rising rates of sexually-transmitted infections and teen pregnancy, and despite evidence demonstrating the ineffectiveness of abstinence-only health education programs, many lobbying and advocacy groups continue to support abstinence-only sexual health education.
Trapped between state mandates and superficial discussions of sexual health topics at home or in school are parents and teachers who are ill-equipped and uncomfortable dealing with topics such as HIV/AIDS, HPV, sexually transmitted infections and family planning. Compounding the problem is the fact that Illinois's current laws on sexual education are vague and outdated, and new legislation (HB 3027: Accurate Sexual Health Bill) has yet to receive legislative approval.
What is needed to prevent teen pregnancies and to reduce rates of sexually transmitted diseases is comprehensive, age appropriate, culturally competent and medically accurate sexual health education.
While school requirements are a proven-effective strategy for increasing immunization rates, immunization without information sidesteps education of teens and harms the dialogue between teens and their parents. When parents and teens receive sexual health education, they are better equipped to engage in meaningful dialogue with one another about the values and expectations they have concerning sexual health.
In conjunction with Communities In Schools of Chicago, staff members in the section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Chicago have delivered sexual health education for the past five years to hundreds of students and parents. We've come to "Sex Ed" from the perspective of clinical care -- of meeting teens in exam rooms newly diagnosed with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It was here that the impetus to prevent further unnecessary infections through education by clinicians was born.
To that end, we began a proactive, school-based approach of sexual health education sessions starting first with high school students, then junior high students, and finally, over the past four years, with fifth graders. Over time our teaching content and focus has expanded to include not just disease-based issues, but to a more comprehensive approach including anatomy, puberty, safe/unsafe touch and factors that influence "sexual readiness." We have also initiated a peer education program utilizing young HIV positive adults who share their personal stories, along with factual content to groups of teens.
The information/curricula we provide to educators, parents, and teens has been endorsed by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and strives to deliver information that is age appropriate, culturally competent and medically accurate. Appropriately supported educators, in partnership with parents, can open a dialogue with students and begin to tackle the many difficult topics related to sexual health.
Our children make choices every day. Our duties as educators and parents are to arm our children with accurate information, and to instill in our children a strong set of values so that they will make healthy, informed choices. When we remain silent on issues that are difficult to discuss, when we allow ourselves to be distracted by election year grandstanding, and when we think that the complexities of life are solved with simple platitudes, we fail our children. We can help our children make good choices. We can help them by providing accurate information, and by instilling individual family values shared through open and enlightened conversation.
-- Linda Walsh, NP, Chicago
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
In conjunction with Communities In Schools of Chicago, staff members in the section of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Chicago have delivered sexual health education for the past five years to hundreds of students and parents. We've come to "Sex Ed" from the perspective of clinical care -- of meeting teens in exam rooms newly diagnosed with HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs). It was here that the impetus to prevent further unnecessary infections through education by clinicians was born.
To that end, we began a proactive, school-based approach of sexual health education sessions starting first with high school students, then junior high students, and finally, over the past four years, with fifth graders. Over time our teaching content and focus has expanded to include not just disease-based issues, but to a more comprehensive approach including anatomy, puberty, safe/unsafe touch and factors that influence "sexual readiness." We have also initiated a peer education program utilizing young HIV positive adults who share their personal stories, along with factual content to groups of teens.
The information/curricula we provide to educators, parents, and teens has been endorsed by the Illinois Caucus for Adolescent Health and strives to deliver information that is age appropriate, culturally competent and medically accurate. Appropriately supported educators, in partnership with parents, can open a dialogue with students and begin to tackle the many difficult topics related to sexual health.
Our children make choices every day. Our duties as educators and parents are to arm our children with accurate information, and to instill in our children a strong set of values so that they will make healthy, informed choices. When we remain silent on issues that are difficult to discuss, when we allow ourselves to be distracted by election year grandstanding, and when we think that the complexities of life are solved with simple platitudes, we fail our children. We can help our children make good choices. We can help them by providing accurate information, and by instilling individual family values shared through open and enlightened conversation.
-- Linda Walsh, NP, Chicago
Copyright © 2011, Chicago Tribune
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