The Dallas Morning News
March 31, 2004
Article by Jean Nash Johnson

Let’s sit in on an abstinence program that gives middle-schoolers some blunt but vital facts

As one class of 70 empties Stephanie McGilvrays seventh-grade science room at Vivian Field Middle School in Farmers Branch, another fills it. Scores of 12-and 13-year-olds jam the noisy hallway. Some of the girls leaving appear slightly dazed, as though on information overload. A few, mostly boys, file out with a swagger and a smirk.

Twelve-year-old Dakota Brockman grins when he describes the session as “fun” and “scary.” His smile changes quickly to seriousness when he says, “This is making me think about my life and the future. Man, that picture was kind of freaky.”

The photo is of a teenage girl’s cancerous uterus caused by a sexually transmitted disease. The image is from the 45-minute presentation Dakota and about 400 of his classmates attended this day.

The Field students have been learning about sex – or, more to the point – no sex. Their science teachers have turned the class periods over to Aim For Success, a national abstinence-base organization headquartered in Plano.

A recent poll by the Kaiser Foundation, National Public Radio and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government found that just 7 percent of Americans say there should be no sex education in schools. Parents’ approval and a national movement toward abstinence have driven a majority of Dallas-area schools to offer the Aim For Success program.

Today, there are 25 sexually transmitted diseases, compared with only three of widespread concern during the sexually free 1960s. The need to teach kids self-control is urgent, says Marilyn Morris, founder of the nonprofit Aim program.

In the Field science room, LaTara Rasco, 13, grabs a seat. Some of her friends attended an earlier session and gave her the scoop. But she’s keeping an open mind.

“They told me that one of the pictures will definitely gross me out. But my mom said we need to know this stuff.”

A group of boisterous boys grabs seats in the back. Some of them appear to tease the girls.

The session is coed by design to give students a chance to interact across gender lines and to encourage dual understanding of the sexuality issues teens face, Aim For Success speaker Bill Magsig says.

Roll of the Dice

            Vivian Field, in the southern section of the Carrollton-Farmers Branch ISD, has about 1,100 students, mostly Hispanic. Ms. McGilvray, the lead seventh-grade science teacher, says she is thankful for Aim For Success because she says it makes her job easier.

                “Our students really need this program. There already is a language barrier. For some of them, it’s the only way they will get this information.

Reprinted with permission of The Dallas Morning News.