I recently posted an article about organizations which receive federal funds, and then use those funds to undermine U.S. policy overseas. The following article gets filed under the same general category of “shooting ourselves in the foot.”
A friend pointed out a book that’s in at least one Wake County public school. It’s called Ready or Not, by Meg Cabot, author of the beloved Princess Diaries series of books. Ready or Not is a stark departure from the wholesome series that readers have come to expect from Cabot. The book is all about teenage sex and condoms and contraceptives. It ends with our heroine, Samantha, impulsively deciding to have sex with her boyfriend while visiting his family for Thanksgiving holidays. Here are some examples of what you can expect to find in the book designed for 12, 13 and 14-year-olds.
- Samantha’s older sister instructs her about contraceptives and how and where to buy them. Then offers to buy them for her. (p. 51)
- Samantha’s sister reacts with disgust when Samantha talks about waiting until marriage to have sex. (p. 52)
- Samantha’s sister buys condoms for Samantha that are “ribbed for her pleasure.” (p. 86)
- Samantha’s very brainy boyfriend goes into a long tirade about how abstinence education programs don’t work. “If they were really smart, they’d know that abstinence programs, and all of that…study after study has show they don’t work.” Then describes “Just Say No” programs as “hokey scare tactics no kid in his right mind would fall for.” (p. 141)
- Samantha blames the high teen birth rates and STD rates on “Just Say No” programs and suggests parents should be teaching “there’s nothing shameful” about teen sex. (p. 173)
- The kids who espouse abstinence until marriage are portrayed throughout the book as hypocrites and hateful snobs.
- Samantha’s sister explains how she uses a handheld shower nozzle to practice for sex. (p. 229)
The question that such a book raises is this: In a state (North Carolina) that has a law which mandates the teaching of abstinence until marriage education, and in a county (Wake) that has not exercised its option to expand that curriculum to include condom-based sex education, does such a book have any business being in middle school libraries? Very few parents would have any reason to be alarmed when seeing their daughters reading a Meg Cabot book, but I suspect they would be shocked to know what is between the covers of this one.
November 26, 2007 at 11:27 am
Hi Traci,
Thanks for bringing this to our attention. I would like to pass this along to our supporters. May I reproduce the article?
Blessings,
Amber
Pregnancy Support Services
Wake Forest, NC
November 26, 2007 at 11:31 am
Traci,
Thanks for the research you’re doing. I’ll be forwarding this information to my central office. Keep up the good work.
November 26, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Traci,
Thank you for bringing this to our attention. This is a much needed resource for parents as well as educators.
November 26, 2007 at 2:53 pm
This is outrageous, especially since one of the Wake County Public School’s official “Character Traits” is abstinence. I certainly hope that a Wake Schools parent will pick up the ball & report this to Central Office & the committee which supposedly looks at the propriety of reading material in the system’s libraries & classrooms. I hope the person who found it will do so at her school, as well.
November 26, 2007 at 5:22 pm
Amber,
By all means, please pass along. Forward the permalink to the story which is http://gigsby.wordpress.com/2007/11/26/ready-or-not/ or let me know and I’ll send along a .pdf, if that would help. Keep up the great work you’re doing over there!
Traci
November 26, 2007 at 8:40 pm
Traci, How disgusting to think that our teens would be exposed to such trash. Thank you for your research and I will be passing this on to parents of teens that I know–like my daughter! You continue to be such a blessing.
November 27, 2007 at 7:38 am
Traci,
Thanks for your detective work on this awful book. It is incomprehensible how a public school library in Wake County would contain such a book. Our state law on sex education requires that all public schools teach abstinence until marriage as the expected standard of conduct. This book teaches that premarital sex is the expected standard of conduct. And what about the health consequences? Allowing middle school girls to read this book completely ignores the fact that condoms are ineffective against STD’s that are spread by skin to skin contact and are ineffective about 30% of the time in preventing other STD’s and pregnancy. Our state law mandates that public school students be taught that the only sure way to avoid unwanted pregnancy and STD’s is to practice abstinence. This book hardly teaches that! We all need to call the Wake County Public Schools to protest this book! Thanks for the good work!