Earlier last week I conducted a poll for the seniors and juniors of Elder High School. The poll was about sex. I asked the seniors and juniors this question, “Are you sexually active?” Elder has done two other polls about sex at Elder since the beginning of The Purple Quill. The first one was January 26, 2001. This article concluded that most teenagers begin being sexually active between the ages of sixteen and seventeen. About 47% of sixteen to seventeen year old males and females were sexually active back in 2001.

The second time a poll was taken at Elder High school to see if the students were sexually active was Friday, April 25, 2008. In 2008, the age most teens were sexually active was once again sixteen to seventeen years of age. Except in 2008, the percentage of teenagers being sexually active at Elder raised to 67%. Even though 54% percent of the school was not sexually active, 67% percent started being active between the ages of 16-17.

As I was listening to Mr. Auer during his human sexuality class, he asked us, “Is Elder doing everything it can to prevent our students from having sex?”

I responded by saying that Elder has been doing everything it could possibly have to offer to their students. Every four years Elder calls in a speaker to inform students about sex. Also during every sophomore’s year, they invite Pregnancy Center West to come in and speak to the students in their mandatory, Building Catholic Character class. Elder cannot do anything more but to inform the students of the consequences.

This year I conducted a poll for the juniors and seniors only and had an interesting conclusion. About 35% percent of students at Elder are sexually active today. Mr. Auer commented on that poll and said that actually seems right, because the number of sexually active students in today’s society is decreasing from what it used to be.

So today the students at Elder may actually participate a lower rate. Elder students are told at a young age by Catholicism that you shouldn’t have sex. They are still taught that through their years here at Vincent and Regina. Kids from a public school may not have been told the same thing.