There Is No Try - Only Do, Or Do Not

This is how Master Yoda might introduce Jedi Sex Ed. The Jedi are a notoriously stodgy bunch. And that makes me think of the Dave Barry book I bought for my brother and sister-in-law on the occasion of the birth of my niece: "Babies And Other Hazards Of Sex." Watching all the furor over government funded abortions makes me wonder why we aren't spending more money on teaching kids birth control.
In Wisconsin, Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth last month sent a letter to area school districts warning that health teachers who tell students how to put on a condom or take birth-control pills could face criminal charges. Southworth, a Republican Christian Evangelical, has warned that teaching kids how to use contraceptives would be considered contributing to the delinquency of a minor, a misdemeanor punishable by up to nine months behind bars and a ten thousand dollar fine. This was his response to a law passed by governor Jim Doyle, a Democrat, that requires schools that teach sexual education to adopt a "comprehensive approach." In Juneau County, they won't include most forms of birth control. What would the District Attorney have health teachers do instead? Teach them abstinence, of course. A very dicey subject, since talking about sex in the first place might lead impressionable minds into thinking that it was somehow condoned or, dare I say it, natural.
Just what connection is there between sex education and sex? In an interview Thursday, DA Southworth pointed to Milwaukee Public Schools, which teach a comprehensive sex education curriculum but still struggle with high teen pregnancy rates. Sex education experts, however, say many social factors influence teens' decisions to have sex, including lack of parental supervision and poverty. So, if we get rid of poverty, get some more parental supervision and some condoms, maybe kids will stop having sex. Or maybe we should apply the same standard to Driver's Ed. For many teens, abstinence from driving is best. All those back seats, don'tcha know.