Wednesday, Nov. 27, 2002 | 9:20 a.m.
On-campus child care centers for teen mothers and sex education classes in Clark County schools only encourage teens to have sex, said some local students who attended the Sun Youth Forum Tuesday.
The opinion was one held by Ryan Johnson, a senior at Palo Verde High School, who said on-campus day-care centers don't teach teens to take responsibility for their actions.
"What message do day-care centers send to people contemplating whether or not to have sex?" he asked. "It says that if you have a child, you can just drop your kid off at a child care center."
On-campus child care was just one hot button issue as more than 1,000 teens from local high schools debated topics that affect Clark County students.
The Youth Forum teens were also at odds about topics ranging from whether the minimum drinking age in the state should be lowered to whether 18-year-olds are too young to be drafted to fight in a possible war with Iraq.
While most students said teen mothers should continue their education following their pregnancies, most were divided over whether the school district should fund on-campus day cares.
Some students said free child care is the only way most teen mothers can afford to go back to school.
"No one says 'There's child care in schools so I'm going to go out and have sex,' " said Michelle Demuth, a senior at Clark High School. "Besides, it's only a few hours a day. If they don't finish school and get a job, they won't be able to support themselves or their child."
While most students said sex education was critical in preventing teen pregnancy, they were divided on whether the classes should be required in Clark County schools.
The Clark County School District's current sex education curriculum begins in the fourth and fifth grades, with school nurses teaching children about puberty and development, Pat Nelson, the district's communications coordinator, said.
Nelson said teen discussions of pregnancy, AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases are introduced in the eighth grade and expanded upon in the 10th grade.
Parents can request that their children be excluded from sex education classes with no penalty, she said.
But Jani Bugea, a senior at Centennial High School, was one of many students who said the classes should be required for all high school students.
"Sex education is something that should be taught as part of our society," she said. "We can't have ignorance on something that can cause pregnancy or disease or ruin someone's life. We have to educate people so that we can prevent these consequences."
Other students said parents, not teachers, should educate their students about sex. They said sex education has no place in Clark County schools.
"If sex is brought up in schools, it brings about more curiosity," Blake Mason, a junior at Chaparral High School, said. "It is totally inappropriate. Sex should be brought up in the home. There has to be some kind of separation."
Another student said the School District shows disrespect for the religious rights of students by mandating sex education.
"Sex education is in part about morality, which brings up religious convictions," Roy Harden, a Cheyenne High School senior, said. "Because my religious convictions say don't have sex before marriage, I feel like my religious rights are being violated in school."
Most students, including Jenna Jarvis, a senior at Eldorado, said teen sex can't be avoided, no matter how educated teens are on the subject.
"It happens, even to people who believe it can't happen," she said. "That's why it should be taught in schools. Sex education in the fifth grade is just like the DARE (anti-drug) program, it's not something you remember."
Students also discussed topics such as school uniforms, cafeteria lunches and the Millennium Scholarship, but the debates on those topics weren't as contentious as those on sex, pregnancy and the minimum drinking age.
Most students said 18-year-olds are too young to make responsible decisions regarding alcohol.
They listed instances of driving under the influence and increased car insurance rates as the main reason the drinking age shouldn't be lowered.
"It's going to be a few years before we can make responsible decisions," Kimberly Lewis, a senior at Las Vegas High School, said. "The government is just helping us with that. Alcohol is not something to be taken lightly."
Other students said if 18-year-olds can be drafted to fight for their country, they should be able to buy alcohol.
"The big problem with alcohol is people abusing it and killing other people," Nicole Brustad, a Palo Verde High School junior, said. "When you're drafted to go to war, you're going to war to kill people. So the government is basically saying you can kill people, only when it benefits us."
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