TresSugar

What's Next For Abstinence-Only Sex-Ed Programs?

TresSugar — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 13:30:00 -0700

When Obama decided not to renew the Title V grant program that funds abstinence-only sex education programs in his 2010 budget, places like McLennan County in Texas found their coffers, already depleted when their $800,000 grant ran out in 2007, dwindle from $1 million to zero.

Since 1997, $1.9 billion in government funding ($1.5 billion of it federal money) has gone to abstinence-only education, turning it into an industry unto itself. Although the Senate Finance Committee voted to restore the funding 12-11 last month, the measure needs to pass the full Congress, which is unlikely. At this point, it looks like private donors will have to cough up the funding if these programs want to survive.

Abstinence ed flourished in the late '90s and early 2000s and federal funding doubled from $80 million in 2001 to $200 million during the Bush years in spite of research that showed sexual behavior didn't change among those who had received the education.

So what's the future of abstinence-only education? Its advocates like Director Tracy Cousins of the McLennan County Collaborative Abstinence Program (MCCAP) in Texas considered tweaking their programs in order to get some funding. But they decided in the end that showing students, for example, how to put a condom on compromised their message of abstinence only. "We believe," says Tracy Cousins,"the best approach [for students] is they should not engage in sexual activity."

Front Page: Unemployment Might Create a Lost Generation

TresSugar — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 08:00:22 -0700

The job crisis is hitting young people just out of college especially hard, which could have a long-term negative impact on an entire generation. - Business Week
American Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel prize for economics. - BBC News
Iraq's National Theater has opened again for the first time in six years, as nightlife begins to return to Baghdad. - Telegraph
Hillary Clinton says President Obama's attitude toward America's role in the world won him the Nobel Peace Prize. - AP
Couples Retreat starring Vince Vaughn had a big opening weekend to come in first place at the box office. - BuzzSugar

Women With College Degrees Help Their Partners Live Longer

TresSugar — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 14:00:00 -0700

Well-educated women have more to offer than interesting conversations. According to an extensive Swedish study, a woman's education and social status has more impact on her partner's lifespan than his own education.

The study, involving 1.5 million working Swedes, found that a man whose partner only had a high school education had a 25 percent greater risk of dying early than a man whose partner holds a university degree. Of course, a woman's education also impacts her own lifespan - a woman with no college education is 53 percent more likely to die early than a woman with a higher degree.

Those behind the study reason that the more educated a woman is, the more likely she is to understand her family's health needs. This conclusion suggests that a woman has a big impact on her partner and family's lifestyle. Perhaps this means that many highly educated women still have the primary responsibility for cooking, shopping, and other household needs. Does that surprise you?

News Flash: Texas Says Abstinence-Only Doesn't Work

TresSugar — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 06:00:00 -0700

Putting facts - like rising teen pregnancy and STD rates - together with some common sense, Texas school districts are beginning to ditch abstinence-only education programs.

Texas has the third-highest teen pregnancy rate in the US and it also spends the most on abstinence-only education. One school district official explained the decision to step away from an abstinence-only approach:

"We don’t think abstinence-only is working. . . Both approaches to sex education teach that refraining from sexual activity is the safest choice for teens. But abstinence-only gives limited information about contraceptives and condoms and tends to downplay their effectiveness, while abstinence-plus stresses the importance of using such protection if teens are sexually active."

Focusing on "abstinence-plus" education sounds like a healthy compromise that will keep students, well, healthy and help them avoid unwanted pregnancies. Do you agree?

Do Shows Like Gossip Girl Accurately Reflect College Life?

TresSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 15:30:19 -0700

In an article in the New York Post today, real-life NYU students respond to Gossip Girl's depiction of NYU freshman orientation. What do they think of the show's fictional keg parties on rooftops, characters requesting who they want to room with to the Housing Office, and the notion that NYU is cheaper than Yale? (Here's a Buzz recap of this week's goings-on to refresh your memories!)

Although one blogger gives the thumbs up to the show's reference to an "Art & the World" class he actually took his freshman year at Tisch, another one disses the idea of a rooftop party. "Don't the writers know," he snipes, "that in NYU housing we're forbidden to peek outside of our windows for the slight chance that we might kill ourselves?"

Do shows like Gossip Girl and Greek reflect college experience (fairly) accurately or is it all just fun and fantasy?

More Kids Are Coming Out in Middle School

TresSugar — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 14:00:00 -0700

The middle-school version of ourselves probably had a blurry idea of the adults we would become, but some kids are proving that we knew a lot more about our identities than we thought. With no doubt about who they are attracted to, more and more kids are coming out as gay or bisexual before they make it to high school.

An article in this weekend's New York Times Magazine examines the trend and reveals that many of these kid are coming out before they've ever dated or kissed anyone of either sex. They just know they don't want to date the opposite sex.

The piece profiles Austin, a gay 13-year-old from Oklahoma. To hear what Austin thinks about tweens and teens coming out and the reactions they get, read more.

Austin's experience went something like this:

Austin doesn’t have to play "the pretend game," as he calls it, anymore. At his middle school, he has come out to his close friends, who have been supportive. A few of his female friends responded that they were bisexual. "Half the girls I know are bisexual,” he said. He hadn’t planned on coming out to his mom yet, but she found out a week before the dance. “I told my cousin, my cousin told this other girl, she told her mother, her mother told my mom and then my mom told me," Austin explained. "The only person who really has a problem with it is my older sister, who keeps saying: 'It’s just a phase! It’s just a phase!'"

"It's just a phase" is probably a common reaction to the idea of middle schoolers coming out. But since we would never question a heterosexual adolescent who announces that he or she likes the opposite sex, should we question those who say they're attracted to the same sex? What do you make of all this?

Were There Mean Girls at Your High School?

TresSugar — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 04:00:00 -0700

Tina Fey captured the essence of high school girl-on-girl cruelty when she wrote the screenplay for Mean Girls. In the movie, Lindsay Lohan's character Cady describes how the queen of mean Regina George ruled her minion Gretchen, in addition to the whole school:

The meaner Regina was to her, the more Gretchen tried to win Regina back. She knew it was better to be in the plastics, hating life, than to not be in at all.

The New York Times recently stumbled upon the mean-girl phenomenon in the form of a "slut list" at a New Jersey high school. This list included the names of about a dozen pretty and popular incoming freshman along with crass descriptions.

It's safe to assume that every high school girl has experienced the competition and cattiness romanticized by Hollywood (don't forget Gossip Girl too!). But is the New Jersey "slut list" story closer to Hollywood or your own high school experience?

Student Fights For Right to Wear Confederate Clothes

TresSugar — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:00:00 -0700

South Carolinian teen Candice Hardwick believes her freedom of speech was violated when school officials forced her to change her clothes and turn shirts inside out because they featured the Confederate emblem. Candice, whose state still flies the Confederate flag at the state house, was even suspended from her middle school for continuing to wear the controversial logo. A federal court ruled that the school district could prevent her from wearing the clothing, but now Candice is appealing the decision.

Candice's family says she's not celebrating a past of slavery and segregation; she just wanted to honor her heritage since her family members fought for the South during the Civil War. But for many people, this argument is a smokescreen. To them, the Confederate flag unequivocally represents nostalgia for a disgraceful past, and it's not incidental that the KKK and Neo-Nazi groups use this emblem to represent their views.

If the Confederate emblem is a loaded symbol everywhere, its racial repercussions couldn't be felt more than in Candice's school district, where schools were segregated until the 1970s and separate proms were held for blacks and whites well into the 1980s. Despite Candice's arguments, the lower court ruled that Confederate clothing could disrupt learning in racially diverse schools. We'll have to wait to find out what happens on appeal. Should public schools be able to ban students from wearing Confederate clothing?

Front Page: Busy Obama Takes on Education and Health Care

TresSugar — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:00:37 -0700

President Obama told school children yesterday to take pride in their education and watch what they put on Facebook.
- Voice of America
Meanwhile, the president is still working on the healthcare speech he's due to give Congress tonight. - AP
A New York Times reporter being held captive by militants in Afghanistan was freed by a military commando raid this morning. His Afghan translator and a British commando were killed. - New York Times
A bill designating "Harvey Milk Day" is causing controversy in California. - CNN
Authorities in France are urging people to stop kissing each other on the cheek because it could increase the risk of spreading swine flu. - BBC News

Kids Are Blind to the Notion of a Colorblind Society

TresSugar — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:00:00 -0700

Well-intentioned parents who want their kids to grow up in a colorblind world avoid discussing race. But a new study involving white families reveals that when parents keep quiet about skin color, young children will discriminate based on race.

The findings from the Children's Research Lab at the University of Texas are featured in this week's Newsweek. Here's an example of how researchers gauge the children's attitudes about race:

Asked how many white people are mean, these children commonly answered, "Almost none." Asked how many blacks are mean, many answered, "Some," or "A lot." Even kids who attended diverse schools answered the questions this way.

The researchers then asked parents to discuss interracial friendship with their children every night for a week straight. When the kids came back to be questioned again, almost none of the opinions changed. Only six of the children dramatically improved their racial attitudes. What was it about these children? The researchers found that every family, except for these six, avoided talking explicitly about race. Instead, they sent their kids the vague message that "everybody is equal." To find out why parents tended to be so vague, read more.

The study suggested that parents are reluctant to discuss race because they worry that such an education passes on society's tendency to classify people based on the color of their skin. But it seems that even if an adult never mentions race, kids can be prone to favor people who look similar to themselves. Thus, staying silent about skin color might not be the best way to go.

Do you think it's possible to move toward a "colorblind" society, or will we always have to deal with openly with race?