Letters posted here are associated with the following article:

2
Letters
Wednesday, June 21, 2006 12:00 AM

Girls campaign for sex ed

Seventh-grade girls petition for comprehensive sex ed at their school in the South Bronx, N.Y.

The letters thread is now closed.

View:
Thursday, June 22, 2006 07:42 AM

useless statistics

"According to the Post, five of the 10 girls behind the petition know a fellow teenager who has gotten pregnant."

I'm surprised this number isn't higher. If only one kid in a junior high gets pregnant, you'd think that every other kid in her grade, if not the entire school, would know about it.

I know I'm being pedantic -- this wasn't the focus of the article -- but bad statistics are a pet peeve.

Thursday, June 22, 2006 08:19 AM

Bad statistics

The 5 of 10 number wasn't used as evidence of the actual incidence of teen pregnancy, in which case it would be a bad statistic. It was used to suggest one of the impetuses behind the petition. Even if they all knew the same girl, the point was that they were acutely aware of at least one of the consequences of sex and thought that sex education was necessary.

That said, it's pretty embarrassing when a teenager has to ask you to provide her basic information about sexual health, whether you are the school or the parent. Talk about falling down on the job.

Most Active Letters Threads

740

The commendably missing element from Obama's speech

There was no pretense that human rights is our goal, or the likely outcome, in escalating the war
370

America's regression

It's almost impossible to find a nation with as many torture advocates as the U.S. has.
328

Do Obama officials know what his Afghanistan plan is?

What explains the completely contradictory statements from key aides on a central plank of the war strategy?
277

Palin: Birthers have "fair question" about Obama

Of Obama birth, the ex-governor says, "the public is still, rightfully, making it an issue" (Updated)
211

The poster boy for progressive self-delusion

Read Hayden's 2008 Obama endorsement to remember the way the left sold our centrist president to itself

View all »

Letters Help

Currently in Salon