TEENS BECOME TEACHERS IN ABSTINENCE DRIVE

Hats off to the 38 area high school juniors and seniors promoting the value of abstinence to preteens through the Postponing Sexual Involvement program.

Sponsored by the Teen Pregnancy and Responsibility Network, the Missouri Department of Health and the University of Missouri Extension Office, PSI recruits and trains teen leaders to teach sessions on how to withstand peer pressure and abstain from having sex. The leaders conduct sessions in public and private schools in the area, typically with seventh-graders. Adults involved with PSI say they try to stay out of the classroom sessions as much as possible, because students speak more freely with other students.

It's sad that the government has to help teach our children these lessons, but better to do so than to perpetuate the problems of teen parenthood or terminations of unwanted pregnancies.