Followers of this approach claimed that a young person would be more committed to self-discovered values than to ones that were simply handed down by adults. That was the hope, but the actual effect of the shift has been quite different. For students, it has meant confusion about moral values: learning to question values they have scarcely acquired, unlearning values taught at home, and concluding that questions of right and wrong are always changing with the influence of society. We live in a sexual world, but Americans have been slow to fully acknowledge its enormous impact. Among those interviewed in the Janus Report who were 18 to 26 years old, 21% of the men and 15% of the women had had sexual intercourse by age 14; a small percentage of them had had their first intercourse before age 10. "It ought to be the oldest things that are taught to the youngest people." (Noonan 1999) This statement accurately portrays moral education today. "The Day America Told the Truth," a 1990 survey of American beliefs and values contains this scene from a California high school. The setting, Friday afternoon and the students are leaving a class in "social living." The teacher's parting words are, "have a great weekend. Be safe. Buckle up. Just say no. And if you can't say 'No,' then use a condom! (Kilpatrick 1993) Although the teacher in this example gives a nod in the direction of abstinence, his approach is basically of the "responsible sex" variety. Sex is an image that Americans have grown accustomed too. Sex is everything. If you're good looking, then you're having sex. If you're sexy, then you're having sex. If you're having sex, you're popular, and people are more likely to buy stuff from your company if you show people having sex. In a modern society sex sells, sex sells cigarettes, cars, clothes, alcohol and vacuum cleaners. .
One way that a breakdown of sexual restraint hurts society is the educational sphere.
