AVE TOOLEY COMMENTARY: Wrap It Up, B

The moderate-conservative blogger writes: "What I’m far more interested in seeing is the sex education models in countries whose pregnancy and infection rates are lower than ours. Regardless of which model of sex education a person prefers, I think we can all agree that the pregnancy and infection rates are too high. With that in mind, we need to find a model that actually works, not just a model that meshes with our politics - or goes against the politics of the people on the 'other' side. Cuz I swear that even if it was statistically provable that abstinence-only sex education worked, some of my friends to my left would argue against it. Likewise, if it was statistically provable that comprehensive sex education led to decreased risk among teenagers, some of my friends to my right would still disapprove."

He adds: "Bearing all that in mind, though, I’m not sure that what works in other countries would necessarily work here. I don’t know if it’s because the US is far more heterogeneous than most comparably-developed countries or if it there’s a cultural factor, but whatever we found would probably need some modification. Still, looking at a plan that actually seemed to work would be a good place to start. Ultimately, what this proves is that people will make their own choices based on their own criteria, regardless of what other people tell ‘em to do. It doesn’t matter what play the coach calls if the players don’t run the play."