Is abstinence education a complete waste of money?

This new report seems to say so. Supporters of abstinence education are going to try to push back:

“This report confirms that these interventions are not like vaccines,” said Harry Wilson, associate commissioner of the Family and Youth Services Bureau at the federal Administration for Children and Families. “You can’t expect one dose in middle school, or a small dose, to be protective all throughout the youth’s high school career.”

Yeah, but the federal government has been spending $176 million a year on this!

Damn it! That reminds me I still need to finish my taxes. Was the report released this week for maximum effect?

But why is the federal government spending any money on propaganda aimed at American kids? Well, obviously, it's a sop to social conservatives. But can we stop now?

Wilson's idea is that the lack of results shows why we ought to be spending even more money and absorbing even more of kids' time telling them what to do with their lives. Why not spend the money on teaching them how to read, research independently, analyze, and critique? That would be real education, that would justify taking up their time, and that would put them in a position to think for themselves about what is the right way to live. And maybe, just maybe, it actually is to be abstinent until marriage.

If you really believed in the good of your own philosophy/religion, you'd want them to think for themselves.