Doctor spends off-days teaching life's lessons

Weaver's goal for Moultrie Middle sex-ed class is for adolescents to make good decisions

Today's lesson is sex education for about a dozen male students at Moultrie Middle School. It's a delicate subject, but pediatrician Bobby Weaver seems relaxed as he's about to take a spot at the front of the class to speak candidly about teenagers and pregnancy.

Several Tuesdays each school quarter, Weaver is here on his day off volunteering to teach sex-ed, or what today is known as reproductive health. It's partly because his twin daughters go to school here. But it's also because he sees wrong and incomplete messages about sex being portrayed in the media.

He's dismayed that today's popular entertainment often downplays or eliminates the consequences of risky sexual behavior, which can include venereal disease and unintended pregnancy. " 'Seinfeld' and 'Friends' is not going to tell them that," he said.

Reproductive health is part of the state curriculum for middle-schoolers. At Moultrie Middle, it means 7th- and 8th-graders are eligible for Weaver's lesson. Parents who don't want their children to be part of Weaver's class can opt them out.

Moultrie's health teacher is a woman; the boys seem to respond better when an adult male is leading the class, and Weaver fit the bill. "We want these kids to go into adolescent years equipped to make good decisions," he said.

First and foremost, Weaver focuses on abstinence. It's the only way to ensure 100 percent safety, he tells the kids. Contraception is discussed in the context of lifelong monogamous relationships.

At this stage of adolescence, the kids have a lot of questions. Their queries usually are submitted to him anonymously before he shows up. But during Weaver's class lesson, the discussion flows freely.

"Why is it important to learn about birth control?" he asks.

"No babies," a student utters.

Street slang isn't allowed. Accurate anatomy or biological names are spoken. The kids don't giggle when certain words are used.

"We have a no-holds-barred approach," Weaver said.

Weaver, 47, received his degree at the Medical University of South Carolina and runs a practice in Mount Pleasant. He became a pediatrician after first considering a career as an engineer, something he ditched because he had a passion for children and for interacting with others.

"I wasn't a cubicle guy," he joked.

Weaver has stories to share, good and bad.

"As a doctor I have to deal with the consequences of poor decision-making," he said, adding that in an instant, a teen's life path can be permanently altered toward the negative. It's a possibility the kids at Moultrie need to be taught, with the consequences reinforced, he said.

Stopping teenage pregnancy remains a battle. Charleston County's pregnancy rate was about 35 out of every 1,000 females between the ages of 15 and 17 in 2005, the most recent figures available from the South Carolina Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy. The trend has declined during the past decade.

Moultrie Principal Jean Siewicki said Weaver's strength is his honesty.

"Bobby makes these boys feel so at ease," she said, adding that "When is he coming back?" is a common question she hears from the boys.

Weaver's goal is to get teens accustomed to accurate information early on, and from an honest source.

He said a success story would be an adolescent who makes a good choice if and when he finds himself in a compromising position.

"They know that the decision they make will impact the rest of their lives," he said.

Reach Schuyler Kropf at skropf@postandcourier.com or 937-5551.

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