In The Michigan PTA Presents The Parents' Answer Book, editor Alice R. McCarthy, the staff writers of The Detroit Free Press and the consulting family-issues professionals she employs have put together a popular digest of advice on a full range of areas wherein parents can build on their already-existing skills and knowledge of child-rearing. The book is divided into three sections, the first two of which are not of interest to this current research; the third section, "Contemporary Issues," looks at the child-parent issues that overarch the individuality of the home and family. Among those issues, the two included that relate directly to this research are sex education and teen pregnancy.In "Family Life Education Needs of Mentally Disabled Adolescents," author-researchers Jerelyn B. Schultz and Donna U. Adams present their findings via the forum of the journal Adolescence. The audience being reached is generally educated, but not necessarily special-field professional; this audience will not be particularly well-versed in the problems of mentally disabled adolescents, aka "exceptional children." At the same time, this audience will be receptive to information on all aspects of youth development and, thus, the research presented in this article will prove a valuable guideline to a possibly-concerned public. Adame acknowledges the criticism by the very title of his article, but does not address its moral foundations. Instead, he adopts an "objective" analysis. He looks at the instance of rising teen pregnancy and, very correctly, notes that there is no direct correlation between that rise and sex education. He does not particularly mention the fact that lack of sex education might be the principal cause of that rise. Rather, Adame approaches the issue from the basic pedagogic belief that Knowledge = Good in all cases. He discusses how students' attitudes and behavior mature when exposed to education (i.e. knowledge), drawing the conclusion that sex educ |
