With this proximity to (gasp!) the opposite sex AND a rigorous dedication to creating a 
Bill's post on Straight Edge got me thinking about abstinence and what it means to declare yourself a "Virgin" (you can almost hear the capital letter 'V'). I was a student at an all-girls, Catholic high school. It was a wonderful academic environment and - contrary to what you might have heard - we had regular dances and social events, shared with the neighboring all boys' Catholic high school. sheltered...goody-goody...parochial secondary education experience, one might assume that the administration would have jumped at the chance to present its captive audience of impressionable young girls with the chance to sign a virginity pledge.
And in fact, I do remember once - just before prom during my senior year in high school (meaning that I had attended school for 3 and a half years at this point) a group totally independent of our school was allowed to set up a table. They came bearing pink give-away pens, laminated cards, and a notebook-sized sheaf of pledges for us girls to sign. Entranced by the free pens and - let's be honest - the chance to join a kind of fashionable movement, a lot of the girls signed up. But come May 3, Prom Day, I would estimate that a solid two-thirds of those erstwhile pledgers took the prom theme (A Night to Remember) a little too seriously and the pledge a little too lightly.
I think the idea of a virginity pledge is great - anything that helps young people slow down and think about what they're doing (particularly in regards to something AS serious as sex) is a good thing. But I just can't stop thinking that these pledges are like a Reese's cup without the chocolate...something crucial is missing. The pledge without the education is basically just a lump of surprisingly gritty peanut butter. And who wants that?
Think to yourself about your teen years - when did you ever adhere completely to your planned course of action? And especially if it was in the heat of the moment, with a snap decision to be made? Sometimes we do things that we're not planning to do and sometimes we break promises...this is as true for adults as it is for teens. But at least as adults we have the chance to put some of our hard earned world-wisdom into play and reach for a condom before playing Russian roulette with our futures. Assuming that signing a piece of paper is enough to change behavior seems a risky proposition at best...we spend months teaching them how to drive...years teaching them how to exist in the world. But to spend 30 seconds convincing them to sign their names? Doesn't seem like enough to me.
There is a great song about purity and abstinence from a little different perspective. It is called "Love Me Now" by a new singer called Sarah Elizabeth. You can check out the song at www.sarahelizabethmusic.net and click on listen to sarah's music. I think part of the problem is not thinking about the person you will one day desire to spend the rest of your life with. If you start thinking about them now, it is not waiting, it is really loving them now, like the song says!
I agree. The education is the important part. Why don't more of these pledge programs have the education opportunity to back up the initial motivation?
I like what you're saying here but the first paragraph is a little insulting to those who aren't heterosexual (I'm a lesbian health educator).
I understand the whole boy/girl school thing but the wording implies all high school students would want to take the opposite sex to the school dance. I certainly didn't!