Opinion
As We See It
csceagle.com | The Eagle | Jan. 20, 2022
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Giving voice to Chadron State College students since 1920
From the Editor’s desk
We shouldn’t abstain from sex ed O
5
K class, today we’re going to be talking about the differences between men and women during sex. Men are like microwaves, they ‘heat up’ quickly and finish just the same. Women, on the other hand, are like crock pots. They take a while to heat up and take hours to finish. No joke, that’s what my middle school nurse told me and my fellow classmates about sex. We weren’t given any context as to what that meant, it was all up to us to figure it out using our own devices. That’s because we were raised during the time of abstinence-only sex education. It started in the 80s’ when Congress passed the Adolescence Family Life Act (AFLA). It was designed to encourage young people to wait until marriage while also providing support to pregnant and parenting teens. By 2000, there were three abstinence-only programs created by the Federal government that encouraged states to teach
abstinence-only programs for grant money. These federally funded programs existed in some form until 2010 when President Obama put an end to them. However, they still haunted schools across the country and were the continued basis for sex education programs. That was exactly what I was taught in high school. Basically, my school nurse wanted to scare the living hell out of us by telling us all the things that would happen to us if we had sex before marriage, you know, STDs, pregnancy, mental health problems and an inevitable death without truly telling us about other birth control options. We were then sent into the world of high school under the guise that we would be OK. Except we weren’t. The whole ‘figuring things out for ourselves’ tactic ended up backfiring and creating big problems. Teen pregnancies, STD cases and misinformation filled high schools around the country. In
my high school, my and mental health” graduating class was according to NCAC. the only class to reach org. graduation without a Now, things have teen pregnancy since gotten a little better 2014, and every class over the last couple of that followed mine had years as organizations at least one pregnancy and medical studies and countless pregpreach comprehensive nancy scares. sex ed. But it’s still not Taking an abstienough. nence-only approach Sex ed needs to Aubrie Lawrence to teaching sex educacover every aspect of tion isn’t effective because there sex, including the uncomfortable is no real education involved. bits, and let students make their According to stuvoice.org, own decisions about what is only 17 states require sex educaright for them. tion to be scientifically accurate. It needs to teach students That means that the things we are about sex that also isn’t heterbeing taught could be wrong. onormative. That way, students And that was proven. who belong to the LGBTQ+ A study done on those fedcommunity are getting a fair eral grant programs in 2004 by education as well. Rep. Henry A. Waxman found I understand that abstinence that “two-thirds of the abstilooks good on paper, but it’s not nence-only education curricula working. We can’t leave it up to studied contained incorrect porn, the internet or religious scientific information regardthreats any longer to teach teening condom failure, sexually agers how to practice safe sex, transmitted diseases, the health and the very real consequences consequences of abortions, that occur without it.
As You Said It!
EDITORIAL EDITOR-In-CHIEF Aubrie Lawrence editor@csceagle.com NEWS EDITOR news@csceagle.com OPINION EDITOR Velvet Jessen opinion@csceagle.com SPORTS EDITOR Mackenzie Dahlberg sports@csceagle.com LIFESTYLES EDITOR lifestyles@csceagle.com AG & RANGE EDITOR Kamryn Kozisek ageditor@csceagle.com DIGITAL CONTENT DIRECTOR Madyson Schliep photo@csceagle.com CO-ADVERTISING DIRECTORS Andrew Avila Kinsey Smith ads@csceagle.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER subscriptions@csceagle.com NEWSROOM CONTACT PHONE & EMAIL Editorial: 308-432-6303 editor@csceagle.com Advertising: 308-432-6304 ads@csceagle.com GENERAL EMAIL QUERIES editor@csceagle.com MAILING ADDRESS The Eagle Old Admin, Room 235 Chadron State College 1000 Main St. Chadron NE 69337 FACULTY ADVISER Michael D. Kennedy Office: 308-432-6047 mkennedy@csc.edu
We asked: How would you feel about a mask mandate?
MEMBERSHIPS Nebraska Press Association
Brianna Smith 19, freshman, Vivian, South Dakota
Katrina Christensen 20, freshman, Guernsey, Wyoming
Mariah Markus 20, sophomore, Loup City
Quade Smith 19, freshman, Clearfield, Utah
Ramsui Deming 18, freshman, Rapid City, South Dakota
“I would not be pleased.”
“I would feel half and half, it could help but putting masks on in class makes it hard to see emotions and hear.”
“I would be hesitant to go to class.”
“I would disagree with it, and probably not wear one.”
“I would disagree with it.”
Participation on The Eagle staff is open to all Chadron State College students. The Eagle is a student newspaper produced by and for students of Chadron State College. Opinions expressed in editorials and columns written by the student staff belong solely to the authors. As a public forum, The Eagle invites guest columns and letters to the editor from all readers. Opinions expressed in submissions belong solely to the author(s) and DO NOT necessarily reflect the opinions of The Eagle staff, its adviser, CSC students, staff, faculty, administrators or governing body. Please limit all guest columns or letters to 400 words. Deadline for submissions is noon Monday for consideration in the following Thursday’s edition. The Eagle reserves the right to edit or reject all submissions.
