The Midland ISD School Board yesterday decided to buck the abstinence-only sex education trend in Texas, and will begin teaching about condoms and STDs next year. It seems abstinence-only isn’t working so well. More than 150 students have gotten pregnant since the start of the school year in August, according to school officials, who describe the problem as an epidemic.
“We have too many students who are engaged in activities and the number of pregnancies, the situations we're getting in with all the sexually transmitted infections, we have to do something,” said MISD Superintendent, Dr. Ryder Warren.
Of course, not everyone in Midland thinks more comprehensive sex education will help. “We are throwing temptation in the way of the weak,” said one local resident.
Anyway, next time you hear someone tell you about how teaching kids not to have sex is all they need in the way of sex education, please remember Midland, Texas, and its pregnancy epidemic. And if you happen to run into Ross Douthat, you might want to mention it all to him.