I remember the time my mother sat me down to have "the talk" a few weeks after Santa Claus' existence was questioned. My school sent home a paper asking for parental permission to begin sexual education in my fifth grade class. Hesitantly giving her signature, my mom decided to cut short my viewing of Lamb Chop's Play-Along and give me the birds-and-the-bees lecture. My reaction to that conversation was to bring back the cootie-shot hand gestures.Unlike what my middle school was offering, abstinence-only sex education is an option that emphasizes sexual abstinence before marriage and tends to completely avoid discussion of contraceptives or sexually transmitted diseases. Although no one disputes that abstinence itself is most effective against pregnancy and STDs, the effectiveness of such a program as a comprehensive sexual education is unclear.

Over the last decade, abstinence-only sex education has become common in the United States, largely as a result of such programs recieving federal funding. However, a recent congressional study deduced that middle school students recieving abstinence-only sex education were just as likely to have sex in their teenage years as those who had had comprehensive sex education. Comprehensive education better equips teens to understand the dangers and concerns of sexual activities, but while the efficacy of abstinence only education has been challenged, I believe that fifth graders are too young to be introduced to sexual education and contraceptive use.

Nevertheless, as of late last month a Portland, Maine school committee decided that distributing birth control prescription to students as young as 11 is necessary in their school. This decision comes despite the fact that according to the Maine Youth Risk Behavior Survey, the percentage of middle school students in Maine who reported having sexual intercourse dropped from 23 percent in 1997 to 13 percent in 2005. The decision means King Middle School in Portland will be the first middle school offering a full range of contraception to students in grades six through eight. Types of prescription birth control provided at the health centers include contraceptive pills, patches and injections, as well as the morning-after pill, but not diaphragms or IUDs. Condoms have been provided at The King Student Health Center since its opening in 2000, along with counseling and testing for pregnancy and STDs. Now, parents are concerned that with their authorization for medical care on school grounds, their children will be postponing their immune-healthcare check for contraceptives and prophylactics.

What concerns me most about the endorsment of girls as young as 11 years old to have "safe sex" is that it's promoting a tainted culture. Since the school board found that five out of 134 students were sexually active, and that there had been a total of seven pregnancies from girls attending Portland's three middle schools in the last four years, the board compromised the well-being of the rest of the student body to endorse acts that I believe are nonsensical.

In Maine, a person under the age of 14 is considered legally incapable of giving any consent to sexual acts and in general someone aged 14 or 15 cannot 'give consent' to someone more than five years older than she is. Other age requirements such as voting, enlisting in the armed forces and legally separating oneself from one's parents are all set at 18 and strictly upheld.

Also, If Maine's school system allows for girls as young as 11 to practice sex with their schoolprovided contraceptive, and they happen to become pregnant, then the next step of action is to raise that child because abortions are only legally provided to 18-year-old girls-unless they have the permission of an adult family member-the problem of younger mothers and families would continue to grow.

In contrast, Brandeis University offers prescriptions, but not actual birth control pills on campus to students. If a student is of consent age, and has made a visit to an ob-gyn in order to fill out the medical/health form, then she is of able mind to participate in sexual activities. Our liberal arts college does not actively force sexual education, but rather has outlets such as Student Sexuality Information Services and Counseling Rape Crisis Hotline as well as an on-staff gynecologist for other queries. With what seems a sexual corruption of the youth, it's disheartening that a girl almost a decade younger than I am will be given the opportunity to seek sexual pleasures rather than enjoying the innocence of childhood.