Groups Developing Online, Text-Based Sex Education Programs

The New York Times (12/31, Hoffman) profiles "ICYC (In Case You're Curious), a text-chat program run by Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains," describing how students can text questions about sex to the program, and receive a prompt an anonymous response via text message. "Sex education is a thorny subject for most school systems; only 13 states specify that the medical components of the programs must be accurate. Shrinking budgets and competing academic subjects have helped push it down as a curriculum priority. In reaction, some health organizations and school districts are developing Web sites and texting services as cost-effective ways to reach adolescents in the one classroom where absenteeism is never a problem: the Internet."