Education

First, I'm surprised that parents would delegate these responsibilities to schools. Do they think that the school does a better job than them? Should the school select the students' Christmas presents as well?

Then, I realized what may be going on here. First, some parents may just be lazy- a contemptible position unless a parent is confident that the school has the exact same values as them. Second, parents may be thinking about the children who don't have support systems, "Mine are OK, but what about the kids who have nobody to help them." I wouldn't want to give up my authority because of the lowest common denominator, but some would, I guess. Third, the poll probably asked everybody. That means people without kids who, without considering the larger implications, would probably would say "yes" to anything the school does. Fourth, Oregon is a little more liberal than the rest of the country. Finally, many who agree with contraceptives in middle school demand that the school ask permission first, a position which would appeal to the moderate or apathetic. This last point suggests that respondents see something wrong with the proposition.

Story below:

Follow up:

Most people favor providing birth control to students, but the vote is divided by generation, income and race, according to a new poll.

Sixty-seven percent support giving contraceptives to students, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. About as many—62 percent—said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies.

"Kids are kids," said Danielle Kessenger, 39, a mother of three young children from Jacksonville, Fla., who supports providing contraceptives to those who request them. "I was a teenager once and parents don't know everything, though we think we do."

Yet most who support schools distributing contraceptives prefer that they go to children whose parents have consented. People are also closely divided over whether sex education and birth control are more effective than stressing morality and abstinence, and whether giving contraceptives to teenagers encourages them to have sexual intercourse.

"It's not the school's place to be parents," said Robert Shaw, 53, a telecommunications company manager from Duncanville, Texas. "For a school to provide birth control, it's almost like the school saying, 'You should go out and have sex.'"

Those surveyed were not asked to distinguish between giving contraceptives to boys or girls.

The survey was conducted in late October after a school board in Portland, Maine, voted to let a middle school health center provide students with full contraceptive services. The school's students are sixth- through eighth-graders, when most children are 11 to 13 years old, and do not have to tell their parents about services they receive.