Do condom vending machines belong in high school?
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To think that these kids don't have sex is ridiculous. I don't think it encourages sex at all.
Exactly. And as someone who recently returned from living in Italy for an extended period of time, I know that it is significantly more difficult for these kids to have access to condoms compared to American students who are often more likely to have access to a vehicle and subsequently a drug store.
Sean,
I spent 3 years in Italy during my Army career. Condom use in Italy is actually quite common as men marry there later than they do in the states. However, unmarried men and women have sex there as apparently quite often as in parks one sees spent condoms apparently containing Italian goo.
Kids there do not have cars to make out in like they do in the states. So they have to carry blankets on the Vespas and use the local parks as the old bonerhotel.
Because the school is a public school and must accomodate all people and because the youth don't listen to the pope or the church anyway. On the contrary, a lot of Italians make fun of it and hate it because they feel imprisoned by it.
In this matter, I think that pope dumpledick should blow it out his azz........
60 percent of high school kids have sex and they must be protected from disease.
While I feel that condum vending machines set a bad example the Vatican's stance is not realistic.
I think the Church needs to hammer out an agreement on sex with its members.
So far bishops want to talk at people and not with them. Humane Vitae needs to be scrapped. The church's take on celibacy needs to be scrapped.
The only way to address this matter is to embrace democracy in the church.
Having taught high school for 30 years in Utah, I can unequivocally state that much more needs to be taught about sex education and the use of condoms. The hide in the sand approach that our legislators have is short changing our students, as their having sex is a reality, and so is the resulting pregnancies. The same "lawmen" then want their piece of vengeance for such moral intrepitude, by making even more and more stricter laws against any abortions, which now even includes self-aborting. Woe to the pregnant young lady who decides to jump off a building and survives it. They somehow do not get the connection that education would result in a decrease in the unwanted pregnancies in the first place. Hurrah for Rome for standing up for a secular position on this against medieval church thought.
In that condoms aren't 100% as a birth control option and are also not the best in preventing STD's will the school be there for the inevitable failures?
to expand on your argument if meds don't guarantee 100% cure do you wish to refuse to let anyone take them
It's not really the same argument. In putting the condoms out there the school is basically saying: You're going to do this even if it isn't smart, so we will try to make it safer for you. If a teen girl went to her doctor and mentioned that she smoked a pack a day the doctor would not say: Well, just make sure you smoke filtered cigarettes. No! The doctor would tell her how harmful smoking is for her. But smoking is only harmful physically, while premarital sex among teens is harmful physically, emotionally, and financially. Boys who have sex are 8 times more likely to attempt suicide than boys who are abstinent. Does that sound healthy to anyone?
But taking the approach that sex is bad when the media blares how great it is won't work either. No one is giving the full truth about sex. They only emphasize the good or the religious side. If teachers took the approach "we want you to make fully informed decisions" instead of "You're idiots that will obey us and need little explanation" then student would either have less sex or do it in such a way that is harmful (ei not using contraceptives).
Besides, does your little fact about suicide apply and how harmful premarital sex is apply to adults?
It's better to educate people so that they make informed decisions instead of leaving them in the dark.
Educator,
We do have to educate the young, but we also need to provide tools to help them stay healthy people. When they drive, they put on seatbelts. When they cross the street, they watch for traffic. When they have sex, they use a condom.
No need to use a flimsy statistic comparing boys having sex vs staying abstinent. Abstinence isn't the only thing you should be teaching. If you are, you're very missing the point. The point is protecting the health of the young.
As a retired public and prarochial high school teacher, I think condom machines belong in every high school in the world. Trust me you are not encouraging new behavior. You're just recognizing the fact that most teens are sexually active, and should not ruin their for a mistake.
We all know high school kids are going to have sex no matter what. So, which would you prefer to hear? "Mom and Dad, I'm buying condoms at school." - "Mom and Dad, I got my girlfriend pregnant." Chances are pretty good it's going to be one or the other.
Just having gotten out of my teen years, I can say that all this is doing is encouraging promiscuous behavior and disrespect between students. You adults don't understand anymore what it is like to be a teen and to be pressured by adults to have sex. Yes, I view this as being pressured to have sex, and as a female, I find the condom machines insulting. I chose not to date in high school (a public high school) because most boys were perverts who were not told to exhibit any self-control nor any respect to their fellow girl students - in fact, most were jerks who thought they were God's gift to all the "hot" girls, while the "ugly" girls were told to go take a powder (even if they usually ignored these jerks). All you care about is preventing pregnancies and disease, but have you ever thought about the girls who will be brokenhearted when they find out they are just being used for sex? Have you ever thought about the girls who are being pressured by their peers, the media, and adults to look "sexy" and yet feel terrible inside because they don't feel loved for who are on the inside? Have you ever thought about the girls who are suddenly being pressured by their condom-wielding date or boyfriend to have sex when they would rather wait?
You are all so concerned with the physical consequences of sexual behavior, but you give no attention to the mental and emotional consequences that can be much worse. You have no concern for how females in general are more and more being sexualized and treated as disposable sex objects.
You all also act like "teens will do it anyways," but that is just absurd and demeaning to the intelligence of teens. Teens are not mindless beasts seeking only pleasure. If you tell them they will have sex because they have no self-control, they'll believe you and have no reason to prove you wrong. However, if you teach them why it is important to treat sex as a gift that must be used very wisely and to exhibit self-control, they will. Teens are not as stupid as you all try to make them out to be. In fact, in America, over 75% of teens who have already lost their virginity report that they wish that they had waited to have sex.
It is unfortunate, yet not surprising, that the article gave a false impression on the Catholic Church's teaching on sex. The Catholic Church teaches that sex is a powerful gift that should be saved for marriage in order to create new life AND to bond a husband and wife together in a loving physical, emotional, and spiritual unity. The Church's view on sex is the most respectful and most romantic one I've seen yet - it does not treat sex like a toy but as something very special and wonderful. I personally cannot wait to marry the love of my life to experience the awesomeness that a Catholic marriage provides through all the effort. You should be careful not to criticize what you have little understanding of, and you should do your research before relying on hearsay. If you don't believe me, I suggest you read this article, and look through the rest of the site, to get an idea about the Church's view on sex: http://www.foryourmarriage.org/interior_template.asp?id=20399029 Another good place is this one: http://www.engagedmarriage.com/
I am sorry you felt that way in high shcool, Unnified. The fact is that teens have sex whether or not condoms are available and that the absence of condoms contributes not only to unwanted pregnancy, but to STDs and HIV. Congratulations on making the decision not to date in high school. That is your choice. It is also the choice of other students to date and engage in seual activity. They should be protected. People have been doing it for millennia. Not everyone is religious nor do they hold the same views you do. Unfortunately the Catholic Church does hold antiquated ideas about contraception and safe sex...just look at their reaction to a few condom machines and look at what the pope said about condoms and AIDS. The fact is that your view point is a minority viewpoint among teens and you need to realize that just because this isn't a choice for you, it doesn't mean that the choice for every is or even should be the same.
Without the fear of pregnancy now, means more sex. Where have all our morals and family values gone.
Teaching responsible behavior ought be the province of mom and dad, not the school system.
You are right. It SHOULD be. However, that is far from reality. Most parents still do not talk openly with their children about sex and make it a taboo subject, which is why the schools need to take up the slack.
I definitely agree that it is the parents JOB to teach their children about sex. It is sad that even in this time and age that it is still so taboo. I grew up in a family where sex was openly discussed. If you can act like you are okay with them putting a vending machine in the school so your child can secretly have sex is ridiculous! Yes, most teens may be having sex but we don't need to feed them and let them think that what they are doing is right. I feel like putting a vending machine is just feeding the already burning fire. Talk to your child about safe sex or waiting. Don't let the school do YOUR job. If you didn't want that responsibility you shouldn't have had kids. Everyone makes mistakes and that is going to happen but you need to take into your hands as a parent and make sure that your child understands right and wrong.
And in an ideal world, that would be what would happen. But our world is far from ideal and as I stated, parents don't teach safe sex. As the second set of parents (look up in loco parentis if you don't understand this), schools have to take up the slack. It is part of our job to make sure students get through school as healthy adults, not as teenagers with children and STD's because someone thought that no one should teach them how to prevent them.
As a high school student who has chosen not to be sexually active because of moral and religious reasons, I believe that this is a great idea and one that should be implemented everywhere. To pay $2.70 for a pack of three condoms would be significantly less than the thousands of dollars you will pay if you have a child because of unprotected sex. I live in a well educated area, and still there are girls who get pregnant. I honestly believe that if the school provided condoms, it would make those who got pregnant look like fools because they couldn't go to the lobby and get a condom. It would make safe sex practices look normal, even "cool" because not only does the administration acknowledge the normalcy of sex among teens, but the idea that "everyone does it" (safe sex) will also rope students in. Good job to those who live in reality and understand the needs of teens.
of freakin course high schools should have condom machines!!!! duh. abstanence only has not worked.. it doesn't promote promiscuous behavior.
Those who support abstinence only need to be made aware this method only works for 17% of our youth. Those who teach abstince are aware that 83% of young people don't respond to it. Unnified, you are fortunate that you are one of the few with whom this resonated.
Now there are ways teenagers can protect themselves from sexually transmitted disease and unwanted pregnancy. Why should they not avail themselves of this benefit of our civilisation? We no longer live in the Dark Ages. It's time to move forward and teach them how not to contract a debilitating lifelong illness (HIV).
They should be put in high schools. It's not promoting bad behavior its just there if you need one. Better then not using one at all because you can afford them at the store or another reason. I think if they were convenient to get then more people would use condoms if they choose to have sex.
Condoms promote SAFE sex. I would rather have my kid use a condom than become a mother, father, or heaven forbid, sick with a life time disease.