Do sex education programs that emphasize abstinence really work? The issue is on the boil thanks to rising teen pregnancy rates and the high profile of Sarah Palin’s daughter Bristol, herself an unwed teenage mother. Now a pair of new studies reveals a complex answer to a flashpoint debate in the culture wars.
Homeschooling is booming, with religious and moral motivations pushing the trend. According to a National Household Education Surveys Program study, more than 1.5 million students were being homeschooled in 2007 — up from 850,000 in 1999 and 1.1 million in 2003. That accounts for nearly 3 percent of the country’s school-age population.
A jump in America’s teen birth rate – after 14 years of declines – is sharpening the debate over sex education in the nation’s schools. The increase, reported Dec. 5, 2007, renewed calls from some quarters to curtail federal funding for abstinence-only education programs, which have been strongly promoted by the Bush administration. Others, however, [...]
Public schools and universities across the country are considering Muslim students’ requests for religious accommodation during Ramadan, the holy month of prayer and fasting, which continues through Oct. 12. Accommodations can include separate rooms where fasting students can go during lunch; places for students to perform daily prayers; the consideration of requests to make Eid [...]
Public schools have emerged as a leading venue where divisions over sexual orientation are playing out. State legislation, lawsuits and school district policies are grappling with several areas of concern:
The increasing formation of Gay-Straight Alliance chapters in schools.
Bullying, discrimination and other forms of harassment that are based on perceived or actual sexual orientation and gender [...]
Students are settling into campus life at colleges and universities across the country, bringing with them a vast array of spiritual beliefs. Polls show that the majority consider themselves spiritual, pray and believe in a higher power. The challenge for colleges and universities is how to engage that energy and honor those beliefs – considering [...]
Is the so-called war between faith and science exaggerated? Some people of faith — most prominently conservative Christians, including many evangelicals — interpret the Bible literally and reject the accepted scientific account of the Earth’s origin and the evolution of the human species. Biblical literalists have pushed to get their view, in such forms of [...]
In 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Cleveland school voucher program in a decision that President Bush called a "landmark ruling" for parents, many voucher supporters thought a clear victory had been won. The road, however, has been much rockier, with negative court rulings, dueling research reports and continued debate about church-state constitutionality [...]
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