Response to: Provincial Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) rates reach outbreak levels; Gazette, Saturday April 30).
Not many headlines have the capacity to grab my attention such as this headline: Poor sexual health curriculum to blame, not online dating apps, says expert. Kristopher Wells states at the end of the article: “Until barriers to education are removed (not the apps), Alberta should continue to expect these high STI rates.” Really? That's why provincial STI rates have reached outbreak levels?
Who better to speak to about what is being taught in our schools than teachers. I took it upon myself to ask the following of a few teachers: “What does your school do for sex education, particularly as it relates to STIs?”
1) We teach the 'teaching sexual health' curriculums from the Alberta government. In the past I've talked more about STIs than anything (the website he references is http://www.teachingsexualhealth.ca). There is an entire set of lessons on STIs on the site.
2) It's done in health class with PE teachers. It depends on the teacher how it's done. Some do videos/modules some just do presentations. In the past I think they've had presenters come in too.
3) It’s taught by the practicum nurses and also by a pregnancy prevention group.
4) The Grade 9s had presentations.
5) Who knows? Our health this year was one health week and some home room time. Health in Alberta is very poorly taught and often thrown to the side. This is very different from my Ontario experience.
In addition, I asked a junior high teacher if she thought that any of her students were not aware of what STIs were, or how they were contracted. Her response: “No.” In fact, when the meaning of the word epidemic was recently discussed in one of her classes, STIs were immediately referenced by the students as an example. Of particular interest, was one teacher's response to the question of why STIs are on the rise: “I'd blame a prevalent culture of meet as many people as possible and sleep with them all because there is no strong emotional connection between relationships and sex. It's the idea that we're all invincible now and that everything will be OK.” Seems that the majority of students are well aware of what STIs are.
Although education is important as it relates to STIs, I do not believe that more education is the solution to the problem. In the past, STIs were a huge problem during the American Civil War and First World War. Posters were everywhere warning soldiers not to engage in sexual relations with prostitutes, the army handed out condoms and STI education was part of the soldiers’ training program. Seems that education didn’t work back then either. If more education is not the solution, what then?
In the beginning, God created us male and female and gave us the command: “Be fruitful and multiply.” Whichever commandments we have broken, humanity has done a good job of keeping this one. We were created with this ‘urge to merge’, this desire for intimate relationship. Sin entered the world and distorted sexual relations that God had intended to be within the context of marriage. Humanity practices all sorts of sexual relations outside the context of marriage.
Abstinence outside of marriage isn’t easy given our desire for relationship, but it’s not impossible either. It has the benefit of potentially saving us from a lifetime of heartache. You’ll need a partner to help you in your abstinence journey and His name is Jesus. He understands your makeup and desires. He will give you the strength to endure and the wisdom to choose wisely. Fold your hands, close your eyes and ask Him to help you, because he cares deeply for your well-being.
Seems that the problem of STIs is not primarily an intellectual or educational problem, but one of morality. It is a problem of disobedience, of immoral choices, of stepping outside the will of God. Let me suggest that the following should replace the closing statement in the article: “Until godly living is restored, Alberta should continue to expect these high STI rates.”
George Prins, St. Albert
