A first-grade teacher, Ms. Brooks, was having trouble with one of her students. The teacher asked, "Harry, what's your problem?" Harry answered, "I'm too smart for the 1st grade. My sister is in the 3rd grade and I'm smarter than she is! I think I should be in the 3rd grade too!"
Ms. Brooks had had enough. She took Harry to the principal's office. While Harry waited in the outer office, the teacher explained to the principal what the situation was. The principal told Ms. Brooks he would give the boy a test. If he failed to answer any of his questions he was to go back to the 1st grade and behave. She agreed.
Harry was brought in and the conditions were explained to him and he agreed to take the test.
Principal: "What is 3 x 3?" Harry: "9." Principal: "What is 6 x 6?" Harry: "36." And so it went with every question the principal thought a 3rd grader should know.
The principal looks at Ms. Brooks and tells her, "I think Harry can go to the 3rd grade." Ms. Brooks says to the principal, "Let me ask him some questions." The principal and Harry both agreed.
Ms. Brooks asks, "What does a cow have four of that I have only two of?" Harry, after a moment: "Legs." Ms Brooks: "What is in your pants that you have but I do not have?" The principal wondered why would she ask such a question! Harry replied: "Pockets."
Ms. Brooks: "What does a dog do that a man steps into?" Harry: "Pants." Ms. Brooks: What starts with a C, ends with a T, is hairy, oval, delicious and contains thin, whitish liquid?" Harry: "Coconut."
The principal sat forward with his mouth hanging open.
Ms. Brooks: "What goes in hard and pink then comes out soft and sticky?" The principal's eyes opened really wide and before he could stop the answer, Harry replied, "Bubblegum."
Ms. Brooks: "What does a man do standing up, a woman does sitting down and a dog does on three legs?" Harry: "Shake hands." The principal was trembling.
Ms. Brooks: "What word starts with an "F" and ends in "K" that means a lot of heat and excitement?" Harry: "Firetruck."
The principal breathed a sigh of relief and told the teacher, "Put Harry in the fifth grade... I got the last seven questions wrong..."
A new study shows that some types of abstinence education can work in certain ways. What kind of sex education have you had? Do you think it is effective?
A Times editorial outlines the study and its findings, and argues that only certain types of abstinence teaching work:
The ongoing debate over sex education has been rekindled by a provocative new study suggesting that teaching abstinence can delay the start of sexual activity among inner-city youngsters — if it is freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions that were the hallmark of abstinence-only programs under the Bush administration. […]
The only program that successfully delayed the start of sexual activity was the abstinence-only instruction. By the end of two years, only a third of the abstinence-only group had engaged in sexual intercourse compared with almost half of the control group. [...]
The new study will need to be replicated in older teenagers and other ethnic groups to see if the findings are broadly relevant, and teenagers will need to be followed long enough to measure the effects in avoiding pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases. No single approach will suffice to reduce sexual activity in all teenagers, but the new study suggests that there is a sensible, effective way to teach abstinence.
Students: Tell us about what you have you been taught about sex, both in school and at home. Has what you have been told by your teachers and parents affected your decisions about sex? Why or why not?
Students 13 and older are invited to comment below. Please use only your first name. For privacy policy reasons, we will not publish student comments that include a last name.
CHICAGO – The Democratic nominee for Illinois' lieutenant governor dropped out of the race Sunday night, less than a week after winning the nomination, amid a political uproar about his past.
Announcing his decision at a Chicago bar packed with patrons watching the Super Bowl, a tearful Scott Lee Cohen said the Democrats were not certain they could win with him on the ticket. He said he was stepping down because he did not want to jeopardize the Democratic Party ticket.
"This is the hardest thing that I ever had
to do in my life," he said before choking up with sobs.
Since Cohen won the Democratic nomination on Tuesday, it has become widely known that he was accused of abusing his ex-wife and holding a knife to the throat of an ex-girlfriend — a woman who was herself charged with prostitution. He also admits using steroids in the past.
"For the good of the people of the state of Illinois and the Democratic Party, I will resign," Cohen said in a rambling remarks made as the Super Bowl halftime entertainment blared in the background.
The revelations about Cohen's past came as Illinois was starting to move on from the scandals of ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn, who inherited the job after Blagojevich's ouster following federal corruption charges, would have been paired with Cohen on the November ticket. Quinn, U.S. Rep. Danny Davis and Sen. Dick Durbin all had urged Cohen to leave the race.
Quinn said Cohen had "made the right decision for the Democratic Party and the people of Illinois.
"Now we can continue to focus our efforts on putting our economy back on track and working to bring good jobs to Illinois," the governor said in a written statement.
Surrounded by his sons, his fiancee and her son, Cohen apologize
d to his family, his supporters and anyone he may have let down.
"All I ever wanted to do was to run for office and to help the people, not to cause chaos, that was never my intention," Cohen said.
Until his nomination, Cohen was a political unknown. Democratic leaders had not considered him a threat to win and didn't highlight his past during the campaign.
Cohen's resignation from the ticket means state party leaders can replace him on the ballot.
"Now we can move on to find a strong replacement," said Steve Brown, spokesman for the Illinois Democratic chairman, House Speaker Michael Madigan.
Cohen, a pawnbroker and owner of a cleaning products distribution company, ran against several veteran politicians, spending $2 million — mostly his own money — on his campaign, more than twice as much as all his opponents combined. He gained strong name recognition with a flurry of advertising featuring people who said they got jobs at employment fairs he held.
The location and timing for Sunday's announcement — a heated beer garden at a Chicago bar during the Super Bowl — perplexed some patrons who were trying to watch the New Orleans Saints take on the Indianapolis Colts.
"It's a way to grab some headlines I guess," said 53-year-old Rick Kokonas wearing a New Orleans T-shirt.
Cohen was arrested in 2005 on domestic battery charges for allegedly pushing his then-girlfriend, Amanda Eneman, against a wall and holding a knife to her throat. The charges were dropped when she failed to show up for a court date. He has denied the allegations and called that relationship tumultuous.
Eneman had issued a statement Saturday through her attorney saying that, based on her observations and Cohen's behavior during their relationship, she "does not believe that he is fit to hold any public office including that of lieutenant governor."
Cohen said Eneman's statement did not affect his decision.
___
Associated Press Writer Deanna Bellandi contributed to this report.
