Comments on: British sex ed not up to par http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2007/02/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/ Two lawyers on law, legislation and liberty. And other stuff. Tue, 02 Dec 2008 22:36:39 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: Damn them with faint praise « The Legal Soapbox http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2007/02/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10131 Damn them with faint praise « The Legal Soapbox Mon, 21 May 2007 11:14:05 +0000 http://legalsoapbox.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10131 [...] some reason, I’ve been thinking about my schooling lately (not just because the question of sex ed at school got raised recently…) Perhaps it’s because I’m already nervous about sending my [...] [...] some reason, I’ve been thinking about my schooling lately (not just because the question of sex ed at school got raised recently…) Perhaps it’s because I’m already nervous about sending my [...]

]]> By: Anonymous http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2007/02/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10134 Anonymous Tue, 20 Feb 2007 03:43:45 +0000 http://legalsoapbox.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10134 Exactly! And think also about the implications for policy that says the solution is more education to enable people to make an "informed" decision - if people aren't very good at calculating future risks or how serious they are, and naturally tend to overvalue immediate benefits instead, will education about future risks be very helpful? Will they be able to make an informed decision in any case? It may mean education is still important but must be targeted at explaining just how big the risk is, or complimented by other actions eg free STD prevention materials such as condoms. All very interesting... Exactly! And think also about the implications for policy that says the solution is more education to enable people to make an “informed” decision - if people aren’t very good at calculating future risks or how serious they are, and naturally tend to overvalue immediate benefits instead, will education about future risks be very helpful? Will they be able to make an informed decision in any case? It may mean education is still important but must be targeted at explaining just how big the risk is, or complimented by other actions eg free STD prevention materials such as condoms. All very interesting…

]]> By: Legal Eagle http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2007/02/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10133 Legal Eagle Mon, 19 Feb 2007 09:52:07 +0000 http://legalsoapbox.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10133 Thank you, Anonymous, that article was interesting. It pinpointed many of the issues I have always had with neoclassical economic explanations of policy. Fascinating. And it confirmed that people don't always see risk in the distant future as a problem... Thank you, Anonymous, that article was interesting. It pinpointed many of the issues I have always had with neoclassical economic explanations of policy. Fascinating. And it confirmed that people don’t always see risk in the distant future as a problem…

]]> By: Anonymous http://skepticlawyer.com.au/2007/02/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10132 Anonymous Mon, 19 Feb 2007 03:45:55 +0000 http://legalsoapbox.wordpress.com/2007/02/12/british-sex-ed-not-up-to-par-2/#comment-10132 Hi Legal Eagle,<br/><br/>Your comments questioning why girls would engage in this risky behaviour, and about at least being able to make an informed decision, are interesting ones. You might be interested in how behavioural economics principles can help shed some light on these issues. See the new economics foundation's paper on principles of behavioural economics for a good summary, especially principle 6 - people are bad at computation:<br/><br/>http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=213 Hi Legal Eagle,

Your comments questioning why girls would engage in this risky behaviour, and about at least being able to make an informed decision, are interesting ones. You might be interested in how behavioural economics principles can help shed some light on these issues. See the new economics foundation’s paper on principles of behavioural economics for a good summary, especially principle 6 - people are bad at computation:

http://www.neweconomics.org/gen/z_sys_publicationdetail.aspx?pid=213

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