Amber, a high school student who is in the first trimester of pregnancy, is nervous about telling her parents that she is pregnant and is unsure where to go for prenatal care. She is looking forward to returning to school after summer break
because she knows that she will be attending a sexual education course and feels that she can approach her teacher after class for advice. Following the class, which focused solely on the necessity to abstain from sex, Amber is extremely disappointed, feels shame, and thus hurries out of the classroom without speaking to her teacher. This scenario best reflects the fact that abstinence-only education (AOE) ____.
a. may be effective in preventing students like Amber from having sex in the future
b. fails to address real life concerns for teens that are already sexually active
c. is effective in providing open lines of communication between educators and students
d. is evidence-based
Question 2
Studies have shown that the vast majority of parents and numerous professional organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, support comprehensive sexual education (CSE) programs.
However, the fact that abstinence-only education (AOE) was the only federally funded sexual education program from 1996-2006 suggests that conservative groups, evangelical Christians, and politicians ____.
a. put their own agenda in front of the public's interests
b. carefully considered the public's opinions when allocating funds for sexual education
c. carefully analyzed the scientific literature before exclusively allocating funds for AOE
d. compromised with the public by supporting sexual education that taught about all aspects of sexuality including the benefits of abstinence