Alabama Students Want More Sex Education

 ========= Old Image Removed =========Array
(
    [_wp_attached_file] => Array
        (
            [0] => 2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k.jpg
        )

    [_wp_attachment_metadata] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:5:{s:5:"width";i:2048;s:6:"height";i:1365;s:4:"file";s:36:"2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k.jpg";s:5:"sizes";a:13:{s:6:"medium";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-336x224.jpg";s:5:"width";i:336;s:6:"height";i:224;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:5:"large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-771x514.jpg";s:5:"width";i:771;s:6:"height";i:514;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-140x140.jpg";s:5:"width";i:140;s:6:"height";i:140;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:12:"medium_large";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-768x512.jpg";s:5:"width";i:768;s:6:"height";i:512;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"1536x1536";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:38:"14587025722_7414119086_k-1536x1024.jpg";s:5:"width";i:1536;s:6:"height";i:1024;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:9:"wbhm-icon";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:34:"14587025722_7414119086_k-80x80.jpg";s:5:"width";i:80;s:6:"height";i:80;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-600x338.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:338;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-467x311.jpg";s:5:"width";i:467;s:6:"height";i:311;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-398x265.jpg";s:5:"width";i:398;s:6:"height";i:265;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:28:"ab-block-post-grid-landscape";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-600x400.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:400;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:25:"ab-block-post-grid-square";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-600x600.jpg";s:5:"width";i:600;s:6:"height";i:600;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:4:{s:4:"file";s:36:"14587025722_7414119086_k-125x125.jpg";s:5:"width";i:125;s:6:"height";i:125;s:9:"mime-type";s:10:"image/jpeg";}}s:10:"image_meta";a:12:{s:8:"aperture";s:1:"0";s:6:"credit";s:0:"";s:6:"camera";s:0:"";s:7:"caption";s:0:"";s:17:"created_timestamp";s:1:"0";s:9:"copyright";s:0:"";s:12:"focal_length";s:1:"0";s:3:"iso";s:1:"0";s:13:"shutter_speed";s:1:"0";s:5:"title";s:0:"";s:11:"orientation";s:1:"0";s:8:"keywords";a:0:{}}}
        )

    [_media_credit] => Array
        (
            [0] => Cher VernalEQ
        )

    [_navis_media_credit_org] => Array
        (
            [0] => Flickr
        )

    [_navis_media_can_distribute] => Array
        (
            [0] => 
        )

    [_imagify_optimization_level] => Array
        (
            [0] => 1
        )

    [_imagify_data] => Array
        (
            [0] => a:2:{s:5:"stats";a:3:{s:13:"original_size";i:818132;s:14:"optimized_size";i:371189;s:7:"percent";d:54.630000000000003;}s:5:"sizes";a:9:{s:4:"full";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:64:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:679474;s:14:"optimized_size";i:297058;s:7:"percent";d:56.280000000000001;}s:9:"thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-140x140.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:5104;s:14:"optimized_size";i:3500;s:7:"percent";d:31.43;}s:6:"medium";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-336x224.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:12349;s:14:"optimized_size";i:7791;s:7:"percent";d:36.909999999999997;}s:5:"large";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-771x514.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:44157;s:14:"optimized_size";i:17553;s:7:"percent";d:60.25;}s:13:"wbhm-featured";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-507x338.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:22691;s:14:"optimized_size";i:12701;s:7:"percent";d:44.030000000000001;}s:20:"wbhm-featured-square";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-300x300.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:14139;s:14:"optimized_size";i:8733;s:7:"percent";d:38.229999999999997;}s:18:"wbhm-featured-home";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-467x311.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:20070;s:14:"optimized_size";i:11305;s:7:"percent";d:43.670000000000002;}s:22:"wbhm-featured-carousel";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-398x265.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:15766;s:14:"optimized_size";i:9295;s:7:"percent";d:41.039999999999999;}s:14:"post-thumbnail";a:5:{s:7:"success";b:1;s:8:"file_url";s:72:"https://news.wbhm.org/media/2016/01/14587025722_7414119086_k-125x125.jpg";s:13:"original_size";i:4382;s:14:"optimized_size";i:3253;s:7:"percent";d:25.760000000000002;}}}
        )

    [_imagify_status] => Array
        (
            [0] => success
        )

)
1666854031 
1452010854

Alabama has a sexually transmitted disease problem. The most recent numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show higher than average, and, in some cases, rising STD infection rates. Alabama has the nation’s third highest rate of chlamydia infections and a large number of syphilis, gonorrhea and HIV cases.

It’s especially bad among young adults. In 2013, people aged 13 to 24 accounted for just under half of the state’s new HIV infections. This got WBHM’s Ashley Cleek wondering about sex education in Alabama schools. She recently wrote about her findings in Al Jazeera America, and she tells WBHM’s Rachel Osier Lindley that students say a lack of information can be dangerous. Listen to their conversation above. Some key excerpts are below.

Sex Ed Not Required

“If a public school chooses to teach sex ed, there’s a set of loose guidelines, but really, schools can do what they want,” says Cleek. “They can pick and choose how they teach and what they teach.”

If a student does have sex education classes in school, Cleek says they’d learn about what STDs are and how they’re transferred, and, most likely, students would learn about some birth control.

“They would probably learn what condoms are, but not how to use them,” Cleek says, adding that they’d likely learn about abstinence as the only socially acceptable and completely safe option for young adults.

Little Information, or Misinformation

Cleek says students vividly recall what they did hear in sex ed classes, even many years after the fact, but, as she writes in Al Jazeera:

When Ali Simpson attended Vestavia Hills High School, a public school in an affluent neighborhood outside Birmingham, sex education was “100 percent abstinence only.” She graduated in 2011, and the last time she remembered a discussion about sexual health was in middle school. Her class gathered in the wrestling room. She said a woman entered and told a story about how she remained a virgin until marriage. Her husband, however, had had sex with one other person. “He gave her an STD that made her infertile, and that was her story about why not to have sex until marriage,” Simpson recalled many years later.

“It’s these kind of anecdotal stories that I think really stick with students,” says Cleek. Simpson said her classes didn’t provide her with education, “just fear.”

 

 

What are your unique holiday traditions? NPR wants to know

The holiday season is full of traditions and we all celebrate them a bit differently. NPR wants to your most unique holiday traditions. What makes celebrating this time of year feel special for you?

What are your unique holiday traditions? NPR wants to know

The holiday season is full of traditions and we all celebrate them a bit differently. NPR wants to your most unique holiday traditions. What makes celebrating this time of year feel special for you?

3 culinary tricks that might get you to eat more veggies, according to chef Roy Choi

Chef Roy Choi, known for his Korean-Mexican fusion food trucks, focuses on veggie-forward dishes in a new cookbook. He shares techniques to get you excited about your greens, plus 3 flavorful sauces.

3 culinary tricks that might get you to eat more veggies, according to chef Roy Choi

Chef Roy Choi, known for his Korean-Mexican fusion food trucks, focuses on veggie-forward dishes in a new cookbook. He shares techniques to get you excited about your greens, plus 3 flavorful sauces.

Trade tensions hang over Trump’s Asia trip, but he still aims to make a deal

President Trump plans to attend a summit in Malaysia before meeting the new Japanese prime minister in Tokyo and talking to Chinese President Xi Jinping in Korea.

Blue Jays rout Dodgers 11-4 in World Series opener

Addison Barger launched the first pinch-hit grand slam in World Series history, as the Toronto Blue Jays overwhelmed the defending champion Los Angeles Dodgers in the opener Friday night in Toronto.

More Education Coverage