Sex-ed paragraph

Apparently, the author thinks that the State Board of Education is lacking in textbooks that "properly" educate children. The author even goes so far to say that students are being "brainwashed" by the conservative textbooks. It may be true that our textbooks may be more conservative than other state's books. However, I have seen many students come out of Texas schools with very liberal views. The term brainwashing is simply too harsh, because students aren't influenced by just books, but teachers, parents, etc.

The author suggests that kids have not been taught in a non-biased atmosphere. In some cases this may be the truth with a very liberal, or very conservative teacher. However, in my experience, I had some teachers who would give their slanted opinion; and most of my other teachers would give the facts. They would then allow us to decide on which side of an issue to take. To back up his statement the author should consider polling both students and teachers, to see what is really being taught in the classrooms.

This paragraph on sex education is by far his strongest, but it is still faulty in some ways. The SBoE does have a-lot of contraceptive devices that are mentioned, but I agree with the author, instructions on their use should be provided. The author's comment on how the state stresses abstinence, and that they should keep their opinions to themselves is well founded. I say this because who knows what a kid's moral code is, and that should come from outside the school. Let's face it, not all education can or should come from school alone.

The assumption that the author makes about an abstinence only education is obviously false. He just stated in the previous paragraph that at least some safe sex education was included. However, I again agree with his statement on how contraceptive instruction should be given. The author's fact about Texas having the fifth highest teen-pregnancy rate also helps his argument about improper sex-ed. It would have been much more helpful if these kind of facts were presented throughout the argument.