Friday, October 21, 2011

Friday Fun Facts: Words and More Words...

Funny story for the week:

One of my students wrote a recent essay about the causes of the rise in teenage pregnancy. A primary cause she cited was sex education programs in schools, especially those that only teach absence. Uh huh. Absence. At first I wanted to correct her spelling - then I realized I really couldn't. Then I wanted to correct her word usage. Then I thought that maybe, just maybe, she was onto something. Maybe "absence" is actually a better form of birth control to teach than "abstinence." I mean, if you aren't even there, you can't commit the act, right?

Gotta love when people mix up words :) Maybe not in the books we read, but in student writing? Yes, it makes me smile.

(A close post-script to this essay was the one that also cited school sex ed programs for the rise in teen pregnancies, though this one said that students were more at fault, specifically those students who don't care, don't pay attention, and thus don't really know how to use a condom and just "slap it on." Uh huh. Really, I don't make these things up.)

Have a wonderful weekend!

2 comments:

Mom said...

As frustrating as it may be at times, to teach high school kids, there are perks. If they can also provide a few good smiles a week, it must be worth it!

Janet Lane Walters said...

Frustrating times. While getting my BS in Nursing I played school nurse at a grammar school and had to do the sex education bit with the infamous movie. Some of the fifth and sixth graders knew more than I did.