3 ms·

I like that the advice is nearly indistinguishable from "be born into a family where you'll be socialized to follow this pattern and provided resources to help

by ashark 9y ago

I like that the advice is nearly indistinguishable from "be born into a family where you'll be socialized to follow this pattern and provided resources to help follow it and to help get you back on track if things go awry, and golly, you probably won't be poor!"

humanrebar 9y ago
He's not actually wrong. I just think leaving the word "sex" out of the description misstates the actual problem. One could start following that pattern, get pregnant in college, drop out, and be slightly better off than having a baby in high school (since you check the "some college" option on the application instead of "some high school"). If the problem is education and socialization, shouldn't the philanthropic classes be educating teens more about the statistics involved in getting pregnant and poverty rates? It seems like we're too busy not judging (which is an admirable instinct) to be explicit in our culture about the relationship between sexual activity, poverty, family structure, and pregnancy. We spend tons of energy on all sorts of techniques to level playing fields and give kids a leg up, but fail to broach this subject. If we think kids are mature enough to decide to be sexually active, we should make sure they're educated enough as well.
- greglindahl 9y ago
  I don't know what sex education classes you had, but the ones I had (public high school, late 1970s in the deep South) definitely mentioned the impact that early childbearing had on education and lifetime income.
  - humanrebar 9y ago
    The ones I experienced were heavy on science and light on statistics and social science. Also, I was speaking more broadly than just what was covered in health class. We have smoking ads and drunk driving ads, but don't care to publicize hard facts about other lifestyle decisions.

3 ms·

I like that the advice is nearly indistinguishable from "be born into a family where you'll be socialized to follow this pattern and provided resources to help

by ashark 9y ago

humanrebar 9y ago
He's not actually wrong. I just think leaving the word "sex" out of the description misstates the actual problem. One could start following that pattern, get pregnant in college, drop out, and be slightly better off than having a baby in high school (since you check the "some college" option on the application instead of "some high school"). If the problem is education and socialization, shouldn't the philanthropic classes be educating teens more about the statistics involved in getting pregnant and poverty rates? It seems like we're too busy not judging (which is an admirable instinct) to be explicit in our culture about the relationship between sexual activity, poverty, family structure, and pregnancy. We spend tons of energy on all sorts of techniques to level playing fields and give kids a leg up, but fail to broach this subject. If we think kids are mature enough to decide to be sexually active, we should make sure they're educated enough as well.
- greglindahl 9y ago
  I don't know what sex education classes you had, but the ones I had (public high school, late 1970s in the deep South) definitely mentioned the impact that early childbearing had on education and lifetime income.
  - humanrebar 9y ago
    The ones I experienced were heavy on science and light on statistics and social science. Also, I was speaking more broadly than just what was covered in health class. We have smoking ads and drunk driving ads, but don't care to publicize hard facts about other lifestyle decisions.