Choosing the Best JOURNEY Review

The Choosing the Best series, one of the more popular abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula series in the country, includes Choosing the Best WAY, Choosing the Best PATH, Choosing the Best LIFE, Choosing the Best JOURNEY, and Choosing the Best SOUL MATE. Each is designed for a specific year(s) of middle school or high school.  For each curriculum, there is a leader guide, a student workbook, and an accompanying video.

These curricula are produced and distributed by Choosing the Best, Inc., a non-profit organization founded in 1993. Choosing the Best, Inc. also offers PARENT PREP, an “education program…ideal for PTA presentations, parents’ groups and teacher in-service training” and Parents, Teens and SEX: The BIG TALK Book which “offers ten critical steps parents can take to help empower their teens to choose abstinence until marriage” (Choosing the Best PATH, Leader Guide, p. 2).

This review focuses on Choosing the Best JOURNEY, which is designed for ninth and tenth grade students and written by Bruce Cook, the founder of Choosing the Best, Inc. SIECUS reviewed the first edition which was published in 2006.

SIECUS’ curricula reviews are based on our Guidelines for Comprehensive Sexuality Education, K–12, which were developed by a task force of professionals from the fields of education, medicine, youth services, and sexuality education. The Guidelines are a framework for comprehensive sexuality education programs and represent a consensus about the necessary components of such programs. Abstinence is one of the 39 topics included in the Guidelines.

As is typical of abstinence-only-until marriage curricula, Choosing the Best JOURNEY provides limited information on human sexuality and does not cover such basic topics as puberty, sexual response, or reproduction. Other important issues such as contraception, abortion, sexual orientation, STDs, and HIV/AIDS are presented in an unbalanced manner that seems designed to promote one point of view rather than simply inform students.

In addition to omitting important information, this curriculum relies heavily on messages of fear and shame and biased views of marriage, sexual orientation, and gender. While the immediate goal of many sexuality education programs is to delay the initiation of sexual intercourse (possibly until marriage) or increase the use of pregnancy- and disease-prevention methods, many programs also have the long-term goal of promoting sexual health. Because an abstinence-only-until-marriage program is often the only formal setting in which young people learn about sexuality, the information and messages in the curriculum can have a life-long impact on their view of sexuality.

Relying on Negative Messages

Abstinence is an integral part of any comprehensive sexuality education program. SIECUS’ Guidelines suggest that students be told that abstinence from sexual intercourse is the most effective method of preventing pregnancy and STDs, including HIV. The Guidelines include a number of age-appropriate messages about abstinence for students such as: “Young teenagers are not mature enough for a sexual relationship that includes intercourse”; “Abstinence from intercourse has benefits for teenagers”; and “Teenagers in romantic relationships can express their feelings without engaging in sexual intercourse.”

Rather than presenting a balanced, complete picture of both abstinence and sexual activity, Choosing the Best JOURNEY puts forth exaggerated messages about both the benefits of abstinence and the dangers of sexual activity. The result is that students are instilled with fear and misunderstandings about sexual activity as well as unrealistic expectations of abstinence.

Messages of Fear—Trying To Scare Students

In an effort to scare students into abstaining from sexual activity, the curriculum names numerous physical and psychological consequences of premarital sexual activity, suggests that sexually active teens will never have a happy future, and implies that only teens with low self-esteem and poor judgment become sexually active.

The curriculum begins with a lesson on setting goals that could be quite valuable were it not for the underlying message that premarital sex will prevent you from reaching these goals regardless of what they are.  The video segments underscore this message with stories of young people sidetracked by the inevitable consequences of premarital sex.  Amy explains that she was “…going to college and have my dream job and I really could have done those things,” but instead she became pregnant and had a little boy.  Kevin “came to school on a football scholarship as a quarterback, with lots of attention and popularity” but that all came to an end when he contracted HIV.  Students are then asked “How could sexual activity become a detour in your life and prevent you from reaching your goals?” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 9).

Similar messages are repeated in the lesson on pregnancy which contains more vignettes about teens whose lives have been ruined by becoming teen parents.  Athena, for example, “had a great voice and had been the star of the middle school play.” After becoming pregnant, her boyfriend left her and she was forced to take a minimum wage job. Similarly, Daniel, had planned to go to college and “his personality, honesty, and work ethic would have been the basis for a successful career. However, Daniel found out that his ex-girlfriend was pregnant, he had to drop out of school to support his son.”  The rest of the lesson walks students through the schedule of a teen parent and asks them to compare their own responsibilities with those of a teen parent (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 21).

Students are told that “While each young person was free to make their own choices concerning sexual activity, they were not free to choose the consequences.  These negative consequences significantly altered their lives.” Students are then asked to rewrite each of these individuals’ stories:  “What could David’s life have looked like at age 30 if he had waited until marriage to have sex?”  (Choosing the Best Journey, Leader Guide, p. 21).

Though it is fair to question how these young people’s lives may have been altered if they had not become parents, the phrasing of the question once again shows the author’s biases.  These young people could have avoided unintended pregnancy and STDs even if they hadn’t waited until marriage to have sex.   

Moreover, the grim futures that the curriculum suggests for young people are worst case scenarios.  Alicia, for example, still has a great voice could still have a singing career ahead of her despite the fact that she has a child.  While it is important for students to understand the difficulties that accompany teen pregnancy, it is possible to do it in a way that does not wholly stigmatize teen parents or suggest that they will never have a happy life. 

It is interesting that, while teen pregnancy is used to illustrate the risks of premarital sex, Choosing the Best JOURNEY never discusses pregnancy options.  SIECUS’ Guidelines suggest that even middle school students be told “A woman faced with an unintended pregnancy can carry the pregnancy to term, place the baby up for adoption, or have an abortion to end the pregnancy.”  Other curricula in the series do discuss these options and show biases in favor of adoption and against abortion.  Choosing the Best JOURNEY, however, simply does not address options.  It seems odd that the author chooses to address pregnancy options with younger students and not with high school students.  

A great deal of the discussion on the consequences of sex focuses on the inevitable emotional problems one will face if he/she engages in premarital sex.  Choosing the Best JOURNEY explains:  the consequences include “guilt, disappointment, worry, depression, sadness, loneliness, and loss of self-esteem” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 25). 

Though the author asserts that these problems are inevitable, the majority of adults in the country engage in sexual activity prior to marriage and there is no scientific evidence to support the assertion that premarital sexual intercourse causes everything from worry to loneliness.

Messages of fear are also reinforced in a section entitled, “The Porn Problem,” in which the curriculum discusses the role porn plays (particularly in young males’ lives), and the negative consequences associated with it. The curriculum characterizes pornography as addictive: “…this addictive cycle controls your thoughts and life as your search and plan for the next porn exposure. The cycle repeats itself. Over time this ‘addictive’ cycle becomes so entrenched in a person’s life that it is very difficult to break and professional counseling may be needed.” To illustrate the harmful effects of viewing pornography, a young man named Carlos discusses his experience with porn, and how it changed his relationships with females. The curriculum asks, “How is porn affecting this guy’s life and his view of girls?” The answer provided is that “it is consuming his life, and he is starting to view girls as sex objects” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 53).

In “The Porn Problem,” the curriculum not only reinforces gender stereotypes that suggest that only young men are interested in sexual pleasure (not to mention pornography), but also resorts to fear-based messages suggesting that pornography has the capacity to control an individual’s life. Pornography is a billion dollar business in this country, and though it is inappropriate for young people, the fact remains that the majority of people who view pornography do not become addicted to it. Instead of focusing on this remote possibility, Choosing the Best JOURNEY would better serve students by fostering a discussion on why pornography is so readily available, how to avoid seeing unwanted pornography on the internet, and how pornography, like the mainstream media, includes unrealistic and potentially harmful portrayals of sexuality.

The author’s preferred focus on the inevitable consequences of premarital sexual activity is clearly designed to scare students rather than to educate them. 

Messages of Shame—Instilling Feelings of Guilt

In addition to providing endless information on the negative consequences of premarital sexual activity, Choosing the Best JOURNEY utilizes a variety of tactics to suggest that teens should feel guilty, embarrassed, and ashamed of sexual behavior.

Many of the video segments show teens talking to the camera about how bad they felt about themselves after having become sexually active.  Robin says:  “After I had sex for the second time, it made me feel horrible.”  Nick claims “…I was in a real hole, a dark pit.  Sleeping around wasn’t bringing fulfillment in my life.  It left me feeling empty” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 43).

The messages in these video segments portray sex as shameful and wrong, and as both a symptom and cause of low self-esteem.  However, most adults want young people to grow up to have happy and healthy sex lives as adults.  Suggesting that sex is shameful is counterproductive to raising a generation of sexually healthy young people.

Nonetheless, the curriculum continually reinforces the message not just that sex is shameful but that those people who have had it should be ashamed of themselves. In one video Sarah explains “Every time I had sex I was giving away a piece of my heart.  I was giving away something I could never get back…” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 43). Students are then asked which of the potential emotional consequences of sex (worry, feeling used, feeling empty, depressed, lower self-esteem) each of these characters is facing. 

These segments are followed by lessons on character that discuss honesty, self-control, respect, responsibility, and caring.  Students are told that abstinence not only provides “freedom” from the “fear of pregnancy, STDS, HIV/AIDS, worry and emotional consequences” it “establishes a focus on character and compatibility in an atmosphere of trust and respect” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 44).  

With ideas like these, the author sets up a dichotomy between those students who choose to be abstinent who are portrayed as being honest, responsible, and courageous, and those who become sexually active who are portrayed as lacking self-respect, worth, or personal value. 

It is important to remember that 47 percent of all high school students have had sexual intercourse.[1] It is inappropriate and potentially harmful for an education program to imply that these teens lack value and dignity or suggest that they are less worthy of love, trust, and respect. This can only be damaging to these students and serve to alienate them from their peers and the program. 

MISLEADING INFORMATION

Early editions of curricula produced by Choosing the Best, Inc. included many inaccurate and exaggerated statements mostly centered on the subjects of STDs and condoms. The current editions have corrected many of the inaccuracies and do provide students with some important information on these topics. Nonetheless, Choosing the Best JOURNEY continues to rely on distorted facts in its discussions on STDs and the effectiveness of condoms and other contraceptive methods.

STDs—Focusing on Worst Case Scenarios

Previous editions of Choosing the Best curricula included a great deal of inaccurate information about STDs. For the newer editions, the author has corrected those inaccuracies.  In fact, the lesson on STDs included in Choosing the Best JOURNEY has a great deal of important information, including modes of transmission, symptoms, and treatment for a number of the most common STDs. While this is a big step in the right direction, the presentation, which includes a slide show of STDs in their late stages, continues to focus on worst case scenarios and is clearly designed to scare young people.

For example, while the curriculum does tell students that Chlamydia and gonorrhea are bacterial infections which can be cured, this information seems purposefully buried under details about pelvic inflammatory disease (PID) and lifelong infertility.  Choosing the Best JOURNEY, includes this bullet on gonorrhea: “Gonorrhea can be cured with antibiotics but remains a major cause of PID and subsequent infertility and tubal pregnancy (outside of the uterus) which require termination of pregnancy” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY Leader Guide, p. 28). While the author most likely meant that gonorrhea continues to be a cause of PID in the world, this poorly worded bullet seems to suggest that an individual case of Gonorrhea can cause damage to a woman’s reproductive system even after it has been cured with antibiotics, which is not true.

Similar language is included in Choosing the Best JOURNEY’s discussion of Chlamydia.  While showing a slide, the teacher is told to say:  “Chlamydia is a silent disease.  Like most STDs, it infects the woman’s cervix moves upward if untreated.  The disease damages the reproductive system, then the diaphragm above, and finally the lungs” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 28).

It is important to remember that with proper testing and treatment many cases of Chlamydia and gonorrhea can be cured long before they cause any permanent damage. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) approximately 40 percent of cases of untreated Chlamydia lead to PID, and only about 10 percent of acute cases of PID (not all cases become acute) lead to infertility.[2]  While it is important that young people know that STDs and their consequences are serious, Choosing the Best JOURNEY’s presentation of this information seems designed to suggest that lifelong consequences are inevitable, which is obviously not true.

Still, this is also evident in the curricula’s presentation of HPV which starts with this string of facts: “Over 30 types of this virus can affect the genital area.  Some types cause genital warts, which can be treated and cured. Other types can cause cervical, penile, and anal cancer.  Over 90% of all cervical cancers are caused by HPV infection.  Over 10,000 women develop invasive cervical cancer each year in the U.S. and nearly 4,000 women die from the disease” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 19).  This presentation seems designed to ensure that young people view HPV as a deadly disease when in truth most cases of HPV clear the body on their own without causing any permanent damage.  Cervical cancer is far from inevitable.  As the CDC explains:  “while infection with high-risk types [of HPV] appears to be ‘necessary’ for the development of cervical cancer, it is not ‘sufficient’ because cancer does not develop in the vast majority of women with HPV infection.”[3]

Moreover, though this edition of the curriculum does mention the importance of pap smears, it does not do enough to encourage testing and treatment.  The CDC estimates that approximately half the cases of cervical cancer that occur each year will occur in women who have never had a Pap test and an additional 10% will occur in women who were not screened in the last five years.[4]  Similarly, the CDC reports that screening for Chlamydia can reduce the incidence of Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID) by as much as 60%.[5] 

Rather than focus exclusively on worst case scenarios, the curricula would better serve students by highlighting the early symptoms young people should look for and emphasizing the need for everyone who has been sexually active to get tested regularly. 

Condoms and Contraception—Discouraging Use

To convince students that premarital sexual relationships have unavoidable negative consequences, Choosing the Best JOURNEY spends a great deal of time explaining that condoms do not prevent pregnancy or disease.  The curriculum skews statistics and mischaracterizes condom failure in an effort to prove that condoms will not work. It also devotes an exercise to dramatizing the failure of all other contraception.

The information on condoms appears in the lessons about STDs under the heading “What About ‘safe sex,’” and consists of a fill-in-the-blank worksheet that suggests condoms are not only ineffective but also hard to use.  The first fact says:  “Condoms are made of rubber, so they can break, slip off, be affected by heat and cold, and deteriorate over time. Studies show that his happens 1-4% of the time” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 31). While it is encouraging that the author amended previous editions by adding statistics on how infrequently this occurs, by leading with this possibility, he nonetheless makes it clear that the goal of this conversation is to undermine young people’s faith in condoms. 

The negative framing continues throughout the discussion on condoms.  Young people are told that “Condoms are most effective against HIV, reducing the risk by 85 percent versus not using a condom at all.  However, 15 percent of the risk remains for a life-threatening disease with no cure.”  Similar statistics are given for other STDs: “Condoms are approximately 50 percent effective in reducing the risk of STDs spread by body fluid, such as Chlamydia, gonorrhea, and trichomoniasis.  However, 50 percent of the risk remains” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 31).

These statements are a vast improvement over the inaccurate and misleading statements found in prior drafts of Choosing the Best curricula which suggested that condoms provided no protection for diseases ranging from Chlamydia to Herpes.  Nonetheless they are still clearly framed in the negative.  According to a CDC fact sheet, “latex condoms, when used consistently and correctly, can reduce the risk of transmission of gonorrhea, Chlamydia, and trichomoniasis.”[6]  The CDC also reports that, “several recent studies reported that, for men and women, use of male condoms can reduce the risk of genital herpes….”[7] Moreover, the use of latex condoms has been associated with a 70 percent reduction in HPV in young women and a reduction of HPV-associated diseases such as cervical cancer and genital warts.[8]

While it is important for students to understand that condoms cannot eliminate the risk of STDs, every medical professional can agree that it is exceedingly safer to have sex with a condom than without.  The curriculum, however, prefers to emphasize the possibility of failure. 

Students are given a similar message in a brief lesson on other contraceptives, which is included in the teen pregnancy section.  Students are presented with a chart listing eight contraceptive methods including “no contraception” and “abstinence.”  The chart includes the typical user failure rate for each method.  To dramatize this information, the curriculum asks for eight volunteers, each representing one method.  Each then illustrates their risk of pregnancy by choosing numbers based on the failure rate and rolling one or two dice.  For example, the student holding spermicidal foam is told to pick two numbers (because the 29% typical failure rate is the equivalent of two out of six) and then roll one die.  If either of her numbers comes up she must sit down because she experienced a pregnancy. 

While this exercise does rely on accurate numbers, it seems to suggest that using contraception is like taking a random gamble.  It never distinguishes between typical failure and method failure nor does it attempt to help young people understand their own role in these failure rates.

To fully understand research on condom effectiveness, students must understand the difference between method failure and user failure. Method failure refers to failure that results from a defect in the product. Method failure of the male condom, for example, is very rare.  It is estimated that only three pregnancies resulting from method failure occur from 8,300 acts of condom use, which is a remarkably low pregnancy rate (.04 %) when calculated on a per-condom basis. [9]

In truth, condom failures are most often caused by errors in use, such as the failure of couples to use condoms during every act of sexual intercourse. It is, therefore, important to look at the data on typical use or user failure. User failure is calculated by looking at 100 couples who use a method such as condoms as their primary method of birth control over the course of a year. About 15 of these couples will experience an unintended pregnancy during the first year of condom use. It is important to remember that these couples may not have been using condoms or may have been using condoms incorrectly during the act of intercourse that resulted in an unintended pregnancy.

This exercise could be more useful if young people were encouraged to consider the steps that they could take to achieve perfect use rates which hover somewhere closer to 98 percent effectiveness for many of the methods included.  Instead, the exercise explains that, at the end, there will likely be a few volunteers still standing including those representing Depo-Provera and the IUD.  The next step is to look at which methods provide STD protection, which, according to the chart rules out all but condoms and abstinence.  All other volunteers should sit down.  

Students are told that they will learn more about the STD protection provided by condoms in the next lesson and the teacher is told that if the student holding the condom sign is still standing  he or she should be asked to sit down.   This leaves only the student holding the abstinence sign standing and the teacher is told to say: “What is the only 100% method to protect against HIV/STD and have a 0% failure rate in preventing pregnancy: Abstinence.” 

This exercise clearly illustrates the author’s willingness to play with facts and statistics to prove a point. In addition to throwing out the rules of probability at the very end and just asking the student with the condom sign to sit, this game compares the typical use failures rates of condoms and other contraceptives with what can only be described as the perfect use failure rate for abstinence.  Like any other pregnancy- or disease-prevention method, abstinence can be used inconsistently or incorrectly.  The fact that 88 percent of teens who take virginity pledges ultimately have sex before marriage suggests that some teens who plan to use this as a method of contraception are not using it consistently and correctly.[10]  Though researchers have never calculated the user failure rate for abstinence, it surely has one. 

The curriculum could better serve students by explaining that although condoms and other contraception are not 100 percent effective in preventing pregnancy and STDs, there are steps that sexually active couples can take—like using their methods consistently and correctly every time—to improve the chances of avoiding unintended pregnancy and STDs. 

Promoting One Point of View

The Choosing the Best series is predicated on one world view which sees marriage as the only morally acceptable relationship, premarital sex as inevitably harmful, and abstinence as the key not just to a successful marriage but to a happy life.  In promoting these views, the curriculum also shows a clear bias against homosexuality and perpetuates stereotypes about gender.

Marriage—Mandating Relationships for Students

Choosing the Best JOURNEY describes itself as an “inspiring eight-lesson curriculum” designed to “motivate students to set goals, make good decisions, and develop healthy relationships” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 2).  It quickly becomes clear, however, that the curriculum is only interested in one kind of relationship: marriage. 

In fact, the curriculum, tells young people in no uncertain terms that there is only one normal and healthy progression within a relationship.  To develop the best relationship, students are told that couples need the five c’s “Consider yourself, chemistry, compatibility, character, and commitment.”  The curriculum makes the analogy to lighting a fire using logs, kindling, paper, and matches. Students are told that it must be done in the correct order.   If you were to use just the match, it wouldn’t be enough to keep you warm but if you were to light the logs directly they wouldn’t catch.  Most importantly, however, you need to build the fire in the fireplace because it provides a safe space for it to burn.  Students are asked “what would happen if you tried to build it in the middle of the floor? (the cabin would burn down)” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 37).  Though this seems like an analogy to sex outside of marriage (comparing fire in a fireplace to sex in marriage is a common trope in abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula), this is never said in so many words.

This proper order emerges again in the story of Jerome and Ashley, two young adults who had known each other in high school and ran into each other “after taking jobs in the same city.” They had an intense relationship that included “a whirlwind of romantic weekends together” and “sexual involvement” before announcing their engagement less than two months later.  After getting married, Ashley is disappointed because Jerome still wants to go to sports bars and hang out with his guy friends and isn’t interest in “cultural stuff” like museums and plays. 

The curriculum suggests that the problem with Ashley and Jerome’s relationship is that they did it in the wrong order; attraction, hanging out, first dates, sex, get married, discover compatibility, discover character.  According to the author the appropriate order would have been; attraction, hanging out, first dates, discover compatibility, discover character, get married, sex.  The curriculum suggests that it was the sex that made Ashley not notice their incompatibility.

Adults in this country form many different relationships over the course of their lives.  Some choose to marry while others choose to remain single or live together without marriage. Moreover, ask happy couples what the progression of their relationship was and you will get as many different answers as there are couples.  Rather than tell young people that there is one relationship that is superior to all others and that there is one and only one way to achieve that relationship, Choosing the Best JOURNEY should help young people explore what makes a good relationship and develop the critical thinking skills they need to make relationship decisions throughout their lives.  

Virginity Pledges—Asking Students to Publicly Promise Purity

Like many fear-based, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs, Choosing the Best JOURNEY includes a virginity pledge, in which students vow to remain abstinent until they marry.  In so doing, the curricula also oversells the benefits of abstinence.

Choosing the Best JOURNEY states: “your choices say a lot about your character. Now it’s time to choose your course of action. You’ve learned about goal setting, decision making, STDs, teen pregnancy and healthy relationships.  You’ve discussed the benefits to your life and future by waiting to have sex until marriage.  Even if you’ve been sexually active you can choose today to change your behavior and start over.”

Students are then told to write down one of the goals they wanted to accomplish from Lesson One and also how abstinence could help them reach that goal.  The class then discusses how a pledge can help keep a commitment.  Finally students are told “We’d like to give you an opportunity to make a pledge today to remain abstinent until marriage.” The pledge reads:

Recognizing that abstinence enables me to experience:

Freedom from: pregnancy, sexually transmitted disease, possible negative emotional consequences (worry, guilt, etc.) and the responsibility and worry of contraceptives.

Freedom to: be in control of my life, practice self-respect, focus my energy on life goals, experience healthy relationships, and enjoy being a teenager.

“Starting today, I make a commitment to myself, my family, my friends, and my future spouse to be sexually abstinent until I enter into a marriage relationship” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Student Workbook, p. 48).

The underlying message of this pledge is disturbing not just because it suggests that everybody should marry but because it provides an unrealistic view of what abstinence until marriage can secure. Young people should not expect that the decision to remain abstinent until marriage will guarantee that they enjoy being a teenager or experience healthy relationships. For example, a relationship in which both people are abstinent may still be unhealthy for unrelated reasons.  It is fair to teach young people that abstinence (whether until they are older or until they are married) can prevent both STDs and teen pregnancy.  It is not fair or realistic to suggest that it alone can secure a happy future. 

More importantly, research shows that having young people pledge to remain abstinent is not a useful strategy. It is true that virginity pledges can help a select group of young people delay intercourse under certain circumstances. Pledges taken by an entire class as part of a lesson or presentation, however, were not effective. Moreover, even when they work, pledges help this select group of adolescents delay the onset of intercourse for an average of 18 months—far short of marriage. Ultimately 88 percent of young people who pledge become sexually active before marriage. 

Virginity pledges may, in fact, be detrimental to some teens. The study also found that those young people who took the pledge were one-third less likely to use contraception when they did become sexually active than their peers who had not pledged. Further research has confirmed that although some students who take pledges delay intercourse, ultimately they are equally as likely to contract an STD as their non-pledging peers. Far from providing a solution to the complex problem of unintended pregnancy and disease transmission, these simplistic pledges are undermining the use of contraception among teens, potentially exposing them to greater harm.[11]

The pledge appears under the headlines “character application” and “making healthy choices” which suggests that those who choose not to sign it are both unhealthy and lack character. Unlike other curricula in the Choosing the Best series, teachers are not told to do a hard sell on the pledge; instead they say “read through the pledge and if this is something you want to commit to, sign the pledge, and date it” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 48).

Still, by endorsing the pledge and suggesting that students use class time to sign it, the teacher is putting undue pressure on students.  Instead, students must make their own decisions based on their personal values, the values of their families, and the values of their communities. Education programs should foster critical thinking and decision-making skills rather than pressure students to make one choice.

Sexual Orientation—Ignoring Gays and Lesbians

The emphasis that Choosing the Best JOURNEY places on marriage as the only appropriate venue for sexual activity shows a clear bias against gay and lesbian individuals who cannot legally marry in most states in this country.[12]  The public signing of the virginity pledge is particularly troublesome.  For a gay or lesbian student, signing this pledge is tantamount to agreeing to a lifetime without sexual behavior. It is unfair and unrealistic to ask a high school student to make such an agreement.

Nonetheless, throughout the curriculum the author simply ignores the existence of same-sex couples or gay, lesbian, and bisexual individuals.

All of the curriculum’s references to sexual activity and even relationships are specific to male-female couples.  A lesson on “Developing the Best Relationships” starts with videos about heterosexual couples.  The lesson then asks students “what qualities were these young people looking for in relationships with the opposite sex?”  Students are then divided into separate groups of guys and girls and the instructor is told to “Ask the guy group to write down the top five qualities they are looking for in a girl and what they think the girls are coming up with [top five qualities they are looking for in a boy]” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, pp. 34-35).

This exercise leaves no room for young people who are attracted to members of the same sex.  There is no reason for such discrimination. The same brainstorm could occur simply by asking young people in mixed-gender groups to come up with a list of what they are looking for in a romantic partner.  By refusing to be inclusive, the author is showing a clear bias against same-sex couples.

Curricula written exclusively for heterosexual students are not appropriate for a classroom setting in which some students are likely to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or questioning their sexual orientation. Such curricula will only further marginalize and alienate these students. Gay, lesbian, bisexual, and questioning students, especially young men who have sex with men, are at increased risk for STDs, including HIV, yet Choosing the Best JOURNEY fails to provide these students with any realistic strategies for protecting themselves from those risks.

Guys vs. Girls—Perpetuating Gender Stereotypes

Choosing the Best JOURNEY also perpetuates long-standing gender stereotypes. These stereotypes are particularly apparent in the stories the curriculum tells about young couples. For example, the story of Jerome and Ashley (which is used to illustrate the proper order of relationships) portrays Jerome as a “typical” male who is uncultured and loves to party, while Ashley has more sophisticated tastes: “Soon Ashley began to notice some things about Jerome she had never seen before. He continued to go to sports bars and party on the weekend with his guy friends…She suggested that they go to museums or plays, but Jerome wasn’t really into ‘cultural stuff’” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 46).  

Most notably, the curriculum presents the stereotypical view that men desire casual sexual activity from any and all women while women only agree to sexual activity to get love. In a section entitled, “Avoiding Relational Traps,” one young woman tells her experience with sexual intercourse: “I thought sex equaled love…so if we had sex, then we must be in love. I had the emotional tie, but he didn’t” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 36). This same message comes out in the story of Ashanta and Terrell, a high school couple. At the start of their relationship, “the dates were fun and innocent. They went to the movies, walked around the mall and he even took her on a picnic. However, by the fourth date it was clear that Terrell had other things on his mind” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 63). Once again, the author suggests that young women are always in the position of resisting sexual advances and only young men experience sexual desire.

In fact, when the curriculum describes the “relational traps” it prescribes specific ones to girls and guys; the “sex trap” and the “emotional trap,” are both to be presented by female students while the “infatuation trap,” is supposed to be presented by a male student. In the “sex trap,” students are instructed to fill in a sentence that reads, “Sexual, romantic feelings can be confused with being in love.” In the “emotional trap,” young women are said to become “possessive,” and learn that “When we try to meet personal, emotional needs through relationships with others we tend to be disappointed.” On the other hand, young men are said to experience the “infatuation trap,” which is “represented by very sudden and intense feelings” and is characterized by feelings of attraction (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 36).

Students are not challenged to question the nature, validity, or origin of these gender stereotypes, or to explore how stereotypes affect communication within friendships or sexual relationships. Such a presentation is detrimental to all young people by limiting their options, influencing their behavior, and coloring their expectations for future relationships. Instead, students need to learn that both men and women are sexual beings and are equally responsible for making decisions regarding sexual activity.

Teaching Methods

Choosing the Best JOURNEY contains eight lessons: “Setting Goals,” “Making the BEST Decisions,” “Avoiding Pregnancy,” “Avoiding STDs,” “Developing the BEST Relationships,” “Choosing Abstinence Until Marriage,” “Overcoming the Pressure,” and “Being Assertive.”

Each lesson contains four components starting with a short video segment. The teacher then facilitates a discussion, presents facts and new ideas, and leads the class in experiential activities. Throughout the program, good “character traits” are emphasized. Finally, students are encouraged to take what they have learned home and discuss it with their parent or guardian.

The introduction explains that “Choosing the Best JOURNEY uses a teaching approach that moves students from a cognitive understanding of the facts to a personal awareness that leads to changed behavior.” According to the author, “each lesson encourages students to think about critical issues that affect them and helps them apply new learning and insights in their own lives.” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 3)

Unfortunately, many lessons seem to provide teenagers with “answers” rather than encouraging critical thinking and really allowing them to explore their values.

Curricula Strong Points—Appealing to Students and Parents and Discussing Date Rape

In the past, many fear-based abstinence-only-until-marriage curricula felt outdated and unlikely to appeal to young people. Choosing the Best JOURNEY has rectified many of the problems with its appearance and the new materials are very polished. The curriculum guides and workbooks are produced in full color and use pictures and graphics that are more likely to appeal to young people.

Another strength of the curriculum is the dedication to involving parents. At the end of each lesson, the students are instructed to interview their parents or guardians and share their own answers to the same questions. SIECUS believes that parents are, and should be, the primary sexuality educators of their children and applauds Choosing the Best JOURNEY for promoting parental involvement and recognizing the importance of family communication.

Choosing the Best JOURNEY also includes a brief lesson on date rape which is an important topic and often overlooked by abstinence-only-until-marriage programs.  The discussion is based on a 10 item true or false quiz which includes valuable information such as “Rape victim should seek medical treatment immediately and contact a hotline or rape crisis center for help,” and “It’s rape anytime one person forces another person to have sex [even if the guy is the victim’s boyfriend or they’ve had sex before”] (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 15). 

Exercises—Dramatizing Fear and Shame

Choosing the Best JOURNEY attempts to emphasize the messages contained in each of its lessons by using experiential exercises. While such exercises are a very important part of any learning, many of the specific activities included simply dramatize the messages of fear and shame that run throughout the curriculum.

In one exercise designed to show the importance of boundaries, the teacher tells the story of a goldfish named George. The teacher explains, “One day he convinced his owner to let him out of the bowl, so that he could be ‘free’ and experience the ‘real world.’ His owner let him out of his bowl and to new freedom on the kitchen table. George quickly learned why the goldfish bowl was important. Without it he flopped around on the table and almost died. He discovered that the goldfish bowl, rather than being a limitation, provided the boundaries to let him be truly free.” (Interestingly, curricula in the series aimed at younger students suggest the teacher actually use a live goldfish for this demonstration.)

The teacher then asks, “How do you think we can apply this in our lives?” The answer: “Boundaries and limits give us real freedom and protect us from things that can threaten our health and well-being.” Students are then instructed to fill in the missing words in the “Sexual Progression” diagram, to illustrate how sexual boundaries must be set. The conclusion of this activity is that “sexual activity does not form a foundation for a healthy relationship.” (Choosing the Best JOURNEY, Leader Guide, p. 54)

Although experiential exercises can be beneficial to students, rather than building critical thinking and negotiation skills, these exercises simply reinforce the negative message about sexuality contained throughout Choosing the Best JOURNEY.

Conclusion

The fundamental flaw of Choosing the Best JOURNEY is that it aims to push a singular agenda, what it calls the “best” choice, while convincing students that they are making their own choices. The curriculum relies on messages of fear and shame and biased views of marriage, gender, and sexual orientation.   

Choosing the Best JOURNEY contains many lessons on character that discuss important concepts such as self-esteem, decision-making, assertiveness, and overcoming pressure.  These lessons could be very valuable to young people were it not for the underlying idea that choosing abstinence-until-marriage is the core decision that determines a person’s character and morality. The format and underlying biases of the curriculum does not allow for cultural, community, or individual values. Instead, they discourage critical thinking and the discussion of alternative viewpoints in the classroom.

Ultimately, Choosing the Best JOURNEY falls shorts of providing a foundation to help young people develop the skills and knowledge they need to become sexually healthy adults, or even to be open to learning more about sexual health as they mature.