New—August 2006
HOT TOPICS IN
Adolescence
Growing Up in
America Today
Where do you stand on these controversial findings in the book?
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From the concluding chapter, “Positive Scenario for the Future”:
“Teen sex is not going to disappear. Thus it is important that preteens and teenagers be well informed about sexual issues, including how to protect themselves from negative consequences. They do need to be taught how to ‘just say no,’ but they also need to understand how to use condoms and how to access family planning clinics. It is also important to protect the right to abortion without parental consent when necessary.”
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“Myths, wishful thinking, and cynical slogans govern much of our approach to teenagers in the United States. For instance, it has been shown that marijuana does not inevitably lead to addiction or to use of hard drugs, yet this myth is used to rationalize harshly punitive laws mandating jail time.”
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“The government gave more than $1.17 billion to faith-based groups in 2003; this is about 12% of the $14.5 billion spent on social programs in five federal departments. . . . About half of the 2003 total went to Head Start and the Housing and Urban Development Section 202 that builds housing for low-income people. But the door is now open for federal funds to go to religious organizations.”
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“As many as 10 million teenagers are at risk of not growing into responsible adults unless they receive various kinds of help . . . Assuming that a high-quality intervention such as the Carrera Teen Pregnancy Prevention program were to be made available for these young people at a cost of about $5,000 per case, the bill would be approximately $50 billion a year. That sounds like a lot until you consider that the war in Iraq has already cost a total of $205 billion and that the total military and defense budget for fiscal year 2006 is $511 billion.”