by Alison Hoover | Let’s talk about sex, [without] baby!
The “it-won’t-happen-to-me” mentality; they do it because their parents told them not to; there is nothing else to do around here; they were not lucky enough to have the loving environment I had growing up. These were just some of the reasons people featured in the film The Education of Shelby Knox gave explaining why so many teenagers in Lubbock, Texas, were sexually active and pregnant. However, this so-called documentary often strayed from the problem of preventing teen pregnancies—the reason Knox gave for becoming an activist in the first place—and instead focused more on the struggle between two directly opposing, extreme ideologies—that of the religious, conservative Right and the young, oversensitive Left.
The title of the film accurately displays its emphasis: this is Shelby Knox’s journey, not a documentary that details why a specific form of sex education is the necessary solution instead of others. Shelby Knox was a highly excitable 15-year-old when she began advocating for a more comprehensive sex education program at her school. The audience learns more about her life as an activist at the expense of learning more about the high rate of teen pregnancy in Lubbock. The audience gains access to the highs and lows of Knox’s adolescence, but neither she nor her fellow activists describe anything remotely close to firsthand knowledge regarding pregnant teenagers, other than noticing them drop out or transfer to a different school. The student activists surveyed many Lubbock residents regarding their thoughts on the status of sex education in the public schools there, and yet they could not describe so much as a single anonymous survey defending their stance.
In filming the difficulties that Knox faced as a high school activist, the filmmakers only portrayed the most extreme opinions present. While these may have been the only opinions expressed publicly, viewers should not think that the members of the fringe groups shown on the conservative side of the spectrum represent the only ideas in which conservatives believe. The three most prominent figures representing the Right in this film were Ed Ainsworth, a youth pastor at a church in Lubbock better known as “Sex Ed;” the founder of an area family values coalition, who told Knox that what she was doing was morally wrong; and Fred Phelps, who was lobbying against gay activists. While these three activists may have been the most vocal in declaring their opposition against Knox, they were simply that—the most vocal and prominent, and not necessarily representative of mainstream conservatism. However, the film did present one moderate figure, who led the teen organization with which Knox worked to bring sex education into the Lubbock public schools. Knox described him as “a politician,” ignoring the fact that he held a moderate position while planning what he thought was the best course of action to enable the group to reach its goal of lowering teen pregnancy rates.
While Knox’s passion is obvious, along with the teen pregnancy rate against which she rallies, neither her solution nor her community’s status quo solution provides any answers to this difficult problem. Federal incentives should be revised so they do not encourage public schools denying information about reproduction and ways to reduce pregnancy risks, which Knox described. In doing so, schools should not cease teaching the belief that abstinence is the best choice for middle and high school students.
Miss Hoover is a junior majoring in Political Science.
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