[TheMercenary]

The Three P's

Pills, prophylactics and penicillin are replacing reading, writing and 'rithmetic.

Do you remember the three R's - reading, writing, and 'rithmetic?

Technically, it's one R, a W and an A, but phonetically you get the point.

It seems that in a growing number of schools across the United States, however, the three R's are being replaced by the three P's - Pills, Prophylactics, and Penicillin.

Let me explain.

This year in Washington, D.C., city school officials are planning to offer voluntary tests for sexually transmitted diseases to all high school students. Why you might ask?

According to the D. C. Department of Health, after a pilot project was performed in eight D.C. high schools last year, 13 percent of about 3,000 students who participated in the project tested positive for an STD, namely gonorrhea or chlamydia.

It gets better.

The Washington, D.C., public school system conducted a study in 2007 that discovered the following:

-- 60 percent of high school students and 30 percent of middle school students reported having had intercourse.

-- 20 percent of the high school students had sex with four or more partners, and 12 percent of the middle school students had sex with three or more partners.

I don't know about you, but when I was in middle school (which was called junior high school back then) I was not having sex. I couldn't spell chlamydia, and gonorrhea sounds like the name of the girl who sat next to me in homeroom.

Can you imagine asking your 12-year-old what he or she learned in school and having him or her say, "School was great. I learned about writing, I learned about science and I learned I have herpes."

But that's not all.

It seems that the STD testing program (which should not be confused with the SAT or the ACT), is a replica of a program in Philadelphia. As a matter of fact, school systems in New York, Chicago, Baltimore and New Orleans are either already performing the STD testing or they are preparing to begin the tests.

Although these tests, which consist of a urine sample, can be performed with or without parental consent depending on the school district, all 50 states and Washington, D.C., allow minors over the age of 12 to be screened for STD's at any health care facility.

Before the tests are administered, students are given a lecture about STD's. After the lecture, the students are given the option of submitting a urine sample. If found to be positive for a disease, the city will pay for treatment. If the students opt to have a family physician administer the test, then the student, or the student's parents, would be responsible for the bill.

I understand the need for early detection of STD's because those who have sexually transmitted diseases are at an increased risk of contracting HIV. However, I don't understand why our public schools feel the need to test students for STD's when the students barely know their ABC's.

Once again, the public school system is stepping on the toes of parents who should be aware of what is happening in their children's lives. Even though students are "encouraged to share the results with their parents," parents should be notified regardless.

True, there are parents who are not doing their job. And yes, in some communities, STD's and especially HIV/AIDS is an epidemic. But no school officials should know more about the health of a student then that student's parents.

In addition, 12-or 13-year-olds are not mentally capable of making mature decisions. They barely know who they are at this age. They should not be burdened with keeping a secret that could ultimately end up with them developing other diseases, and possibly even death.

It's irresponsible for any school system or adult to encourage a child to lie by omission to his or her parents.

Furthermore, although infected students are given cards so they can alert their sexual partners of their STD status, what middle school student or high school student is going to give a card (which can be easily scanned and placed in anyone's Facebook page) to his or her sexual partners that states he or she has tested positive for gonorrhea or chlamydia?

Having officials with so little common sense running school systems is one of the reasons our children are getting dumber and dumber and dropping out of school at alarming rates. I'm sure the intentions of the school systems are good, but schools need to go back to the three R's and let parents and children handle the three P's.

Geveryl Robinson

http://savannahnow.com/node/764314