Letters to the Editor
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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.
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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.