Schools Held to Avoid Sex Education : Surveys Find Birth Control Downplayed, Focus Put on AIDS

As schools focus more of their attention and resources on preventing AIDS, most are not putting enough emphasis on teaching teen-agers how to avoid pregnancy, either through abstinence or contraception, a leading private research organization contended Tuesday.

“Clearly the school districts tend to downplay the prevention of pregnancy. Everybody is tiptoeing around it,” said Jeannie I. Rosoff, president of the Alan Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit group that researches and makes policy recommendations on reproductive issues.

Of almost $6.3 million in state dollars spent on sex education nationwide last year, about $5.1 million was earmarked for AIDS education, the institute reported.

“To a great extent, the system is being driven by a public concern about AIDS at this point, and very often sex education is being left behind,” said Asta M. Kenney, one of the researchers who studied the situation.

Based on Three Surveys

The institute’s conclusions were based on three surveys: one of policies in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, a second of 162 large school districts and a third of 4,241 public school teachers who provide sex education in grades seven through 12. All were done last year.

The sex education issue is receiving new attention as the U.S. Supreme Court considers a Missouri case that could be the basis for undercutting its 1973 decision legalizing abortion.

The United States has one of the highest abortion rates in the industrialized world. It is estimated that at least one in four pregnancies end in abortion. More than one-quarter of abortions are performed on women under the age of 20.

Where states have generally spelled out detailed expectations of their schools in other areas, said Rosoff, most “have abdicated their role in setting standards for sex education.”

Only 24 states, the studies found, have enunciated a sex education curriculum, an outline of what should be taught.

California, where teen pregnancy and abortion rates are significantly higher than the national average, is not among them. Nor does California require sex eduction, the survey noted.

The study noted that many state curricula have not been updated for 5 or 10 years. Abstinence, it found, is addressed as a means of preventing AIDS in 22 states, but only Tennessee discusses it with regard to unwanted pregnancy.

Only Delaware and Georgia require teachers to discuss specific methods of contraception, along with their risks and benefits. “More typically,” the report said, “a document outlines the expectation that students in grades 9-12 will ‘develop an understanding of the purpose of contraceptives in preparation for adult life.’ ”

By contrast, the report found that large school districts offer “strong support” for sex education and place much of their emphasis on abstinence.

However, the survey of teachers indicated that sex education is often not offered until students reach the 9th or 10th grades. By that time, it may be too late: An estimated one-quarter of adolescents are sexually active before they have finished 10th grade. More than half are believed to have had sexual intercourse before they are 18.

Further, the teachers said they devote an average of less than seven hours a year to sex education, generally in such classes as health education and biology, and that less than an hour is spent teaching about birth control.

One quarter said they discuss specific contraceptive methods only when students ask questions.

Almost a third of the teachers said one of their biggest obstacles in teaching sex education was pressure from parents, the community or school administrators--particularly with regard to such topics as birth control methods, condom use, abortion, homosexuality and practices to make sex safer.

Only half said they believe their efforts are being supported by parents and the community.

Develop Own Materials

Eight out of 10 teachers said they wanted more assistance in teaching about pregnancy prevention and sexually transmitted diseases, with many saying that they develop their own course materials because state and district curricula are inadequate or unavailable.

The study warned that this presented a danger, because many teachers do not have entirely accurate information regarding sex and contraception.

More than half, for example, said they believed that birth-control pill use should be interrupted periodically to give the body a rest, which the institute said is incorrect and could increase the chances of unwanted pregnancy.