http://www.21apples.org/ en-us 40 21apples comments <p> The <a href="http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/" target="_blank">surgeon general</a> says that <a href="http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/sexualhealth/glancetable.htm" target="_blank">abstinence education is not enough.</a> Successful sex education must include both abstinence education as well as safe-sex practices. Educating students about using social-networking sites, and more broadly, the Internet requires just the same. While we acknowledge that the safest behavior is to abstain from social-networking communities, we also want those who enter them to do so with the knowledge to do so safely. This is my recreation of the <a href="http://www.surgeongeneral.gov/library/sexualhealth/glancetable.htm" target="_blank">Surgeon General&#8217;s report</a>, but made for the online education we are working towards: </p><blockquote> Provide access to education about online safety and appropriate use of the Internet that is thorough, wide-ranging, begins early, and continues throughout the lifespan. Such education should: <strong> recognize the special place that the online world has in the lives of young people </strong> stress the value and benefits of being online anonymously until involved in a community where one feels confident that information is protected and secure * assure awareness of optimal protection from online dangers for those who participate in online communities, while stressing that there are no infallible methods of protection except &#8220;abstinence,&#8221; and that restricted communities can still leave one&#8217;s information exposed </blockquote> Fri, 9 Dec 2005 22:34:00 EST <a href="/articles/2005/12/09/abstinence-only-web-ducation">Abstinence Only Web-ducation</a> <a href="/articles/2005/12/09/abstinence-only-web-ducation">Abstinence Only Web-ducation</a>