The same teachers with whom many conservatives believe are over-paid, under-worked, and unjustily unionized? Now you want to trust them with guns?
We already trust them with guns. We have always trusted them with guns. The question is whether to allow them to bring their guns to work.
I still think general education on various matters whether it be guns, equality(racial,gender), contraception (sexual education) would go pretty darn far to further lower the rates of what I view as undesirable outcomes.
Are you saying you don't believe public schools teach adequate sex education? I dunno where you went to school but I can promise you here in NJ, the schools were doing just what they should back 35 years ago. Sex education is pretty advanced, detailing all sorts of issues way beyond what it takes to avoid unwanted pregnancy. You're not honestly contending that we have the numbers of unwanted pregnancy we do, because boys and girls don't know what it takes to avoid pregnancy? Seriously Scott, you can take my word for it. . .people aren't getting pregnant because they had no idea what they were doing put them at risk of causing an unplanned pregnancy. Education is not the solution to the problem you're noting.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
The same teachers with whom many conservatives believe are over-paid, under-worked, and unjustily unionized? Now you want to trust them with guns?
We already trust them with guns. We have always trusted them with guns. The question is whether to allow them to bring their guns to work.
I still think general education on various matters whether it be guns, equality(racial,gender), contraception (sexual education) would go pretty darn far to further lower the rates of what I view as undesirable outcomes.
Are you saying you don't believe public schools teach adequate sex education? I dunno where you went to school but I can promise you here in NJ, the schools were doing just what they should back 35 years ago. Sex education is pretty advanced, detailing all sorts of issues way beyond what it takes to avoid unwanted pregnancy. You're not honestly contending that we have the numbers of unwanted pregnancy we do, because boys and girls don't know what it takes to avoid pregnancy? Seriously Scott, you can take my word for it. . .people aren't getting pregnant because they had no idea what they were doing put them at risk of causing an unplanned pregnancy. Education is not the solution to the problem you're noting.
Sometimes GIT, I think you read something and see what you want to see. Addressing the guns issue at top, yes that is the issue indeed. Diogenes is considering allowing a group he already doesn't inherently trust to bring their guns to work so-to-speak. I find that laughable considering his and many others' positions on teachers.
As per the sex ed., since you targetted only 1 of the many options there, I'll provide you with my run down. Considering I've definitely been in the school system far more recently than you, I can state with 100% confidence that sex ed. in the U.S. is a bit of a joke. It has literally consisted of "don't have sex, you could get an STD." It has nothing to do with knowing how the act works, but with having the education to understand both the risks to your health as well as your future. These are NOT AT ALL taught in the last 20 years, this I can attest too. In many school systems, sex ed has been removed due to christian meddling in the education system, and I find this very offensive. So to answer your question, no sexual education is neither thorough, nor comprehensive in the U.S.
TLDR: Educate the child before they have sex such that they feel comfortable in confiding in you as a parent as well as know well enough to at least use contraception if they do parttake in those activities. This would drastically reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions overall. Education will always be a solution to helping to prevent problems, regardless of what they may be.
Scott, I'll take you at your word but I would point out, this is not a national issue. It is a State issue. We don't have the problem you're reporting here in NJ. What we do have is the highest cost per capita for our educational system of any state in the union. Now if your state is like TN, or DE, or AR or some other state where they don't value high quality education and therefore don't fund it properly, I can see how one might get stuck with what you're reporting.
And just noting, despite kids here in NJ get all this advanced education, they are still leaving school to have unprotected group sex while their parents are at work, and otherwise demonstrating that education is not the answer to the problems of unwanted pregnancy. Self restraint is the answer. That's not something that can be taught. It needs to be modeled in the home and therefore cannot be accomplished through the educational system. For as long as we have poor parenting, we are going to have this problem.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
I do not argue with the idea that education should start in the home with the parents, but it is still education. It is still taught, not gifted or instinctual. It is and forever will be education.
That's true but you're equivocating. This isn't a problem that can be fixed by spending more on education. I'm not sure its a problem that can be fixed at all. People have the freedom to fail as parents, as any casual observer can attest.
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis
Before all this modern day swat team crap, you had towns with officers, who themselves where no more equipped than anyone else. In fact, even militaries were no more well equipped than anyone else. It worked because they were supported by the people they fought for. If it came down to it, the whole town could grab a gun, becoming deputies. Regions had militias made up of citizens with their own weapons. This idea that the "government", as a self contained entity, should really be the only one with a gun is a modern invention. But, who invented it and why?
It's not that modern. There are many examples of governments disarming the people after that people's conquest. From Okinawa to ancient Israel, conquerers love to disarm the populous for obvious reasons.
In Europe, the Rapier was the first truly civilian weapon. Before the Elizabethan age, citizens never carried weapons beyond a hunting bow or a dagger. Rather, one needed to be "nobility" to carry arms or be in the employ of nobility as "men at arms".
This is a debate that has gone on for centuries. What is recent is, the left is convinced the average person should not be able to own weapons when usually liberals are on the other side of the debate. It is not really "liberality" that they are supporting with gun control laws, but "progressivism".
"Courage is not just a virtue, but the form of every virtue at the testing point." C. S. Lewis