Letter to the Editor

News Virginian
Published: January 13, 2008

EDITOR'S NOTE: Following are letters submitted to The News Virginian by Waynesboro High School students. We received a large volume of letters from students as part of a classroom effort to get them thinking about their community. We regret that we could not publish them all, but applaud the idea. We hope to hear from them all again.

The article "Kaine rids funding for abstinence programs" (Nov. 14) talked about Virginia doing away with abstinence-only education. Delacey Skinner said that "the governor wants to see us funding programs that are education-based." I agree with that statement because you shouldn't waste money on programs that are useless. You should try and get accurate responses before putting a lot of time, effort and money into something.

The only true way we will ever know if the programs are effective is to go back and trace the outcome of the kids who attended the programs. A way to do that is survey students to talk about what they learned and how their actions have changed from attending the programs. With the reactions to the surveys, we will understand which programs work the best and be able to decide which ones to put funding toward. I believe with the right programs we can reach even better outcomes than states with abstinence-only education.

Callie Owens

The article "Study finds abstinence-only ineffective" (Nov. 14) said that more sex education programs are getting more positive feedback and outcomes. The article stated that 47 percent of all high school students reporting having sex at least once with 63 percent saying they have engaged in sex by the spring semester of their senior year.

I think the majority of students are pressured into sex because a lot of high school students are already engaged in it. It is mostly peer pressure and many kids go along with it so they won't be considered the "outcast."

Too many kids have sex on their minds, instead of important things such as, grades, sports, friends and family. After these teens get pregnant they either have an abortion, which means they are killing an innocent life, or they keep the child and aren't able to support the baby financially and/or emotionally.

I don't think it matters how many sex education programs we have, the teen pregnancy rate will not go down. Many kids decide not to take these classes and still have sex. Some of those who do take the classes still engage in sex and end up pregnant. Some other students have sex but use protection, which I think is still wrong. I think you should wait to engage in sex until you are happily married and are ready for the commitment.

Alison Zook

Regarding the article "Couple cleared of child abuse" (Nov. 6), I think the judge made the wrong decision, because parents shouldn't treat their kids in a way such as locking them in a room for a year.

I believe it was child abuse, because the parents wouldn't have locked them in the room if they weren't trying to harm them. Some harmless ways to punish your kids is to take away something that means a lot to them — video games, cell phones, computers, etc. Make them stay home over their weekend instead of going out with their friends or give them a lecture to make them learn their lesson.

There are other, more appropriate, ways to punish your children without abusing them. I think the parents should have been charged with child abuse and time in jail.

Taylor DeWitt

In the article, "William Perry kids help U.S. Soldier in Iraq" (Nov. 16), Bob Stuart wrote about how a girl's dad was shipped to Iraq and how the school is helping him out. I think it is awesome that the school is doing this for him. Everybody in Iraq probably does not want to be there. It is so great that these kids and the school are doing this for him and the people he is with over there. They are trying to make it as good as possible for them in Iraq. I think it was a great idea from Tiffany Andrews, who is the teacher of the students who started the project.

The principal of the school said the donations also offer important lessons to the students. I think the principal is exactly right, that donating helps teach the students about helping one another out, and that is one of the things the kids learn at William Perry.

In the article, teacher Tammy Lightner mentioned that by giving donations, the students are saying, "Thank you for what you do." I think Tammy pretty much summed it up. After reading the article, I feel inspired to help others as well.

Everybody in the U.S. should agree with me that what these kids are doing for the troops in Iraq is a great thing. I think that the troops need all the support they can get.

Alex Farrington