There’s a big controversy going in our city about sex education in the public schools.  Most parents  in our community don’t want their children to learn about different types of birth control.  They think teens  should be told that abstinence is the only sure way to avoid pregnancy.  Well, actually, they’re right.  But it doesn’t take a six week class to explain that.    And do teens need instruction on the mechanics of procreation?  All they need do is go to the movies or watch cable TV to see how the act is performed.  The question is: should schools  teach about sex at all?

Having attended parochial schools for 12 years, I  never received  sex education.  From the  first  grade  on , we  children  celebrated the feast of the Immaculate Conception, without having the slightest idea what it meant..  What was a virgin, I used to wonder?    That was the extent of sex education during my school years.  On the other hand,  I don’t recall my public school friends attending sex education classes. .  But somehow, by the time we were teens, all of us understood” sex.” .  How did we find out?  Word of mouth, mostly.  Or maybe  pamphlets provided by our parents.  The nuns  warned against the sin of “petting” in religion class.  And yes, we knew that abstinence was the only sure way to prevent pregnancy.  Which led to a lot of fooling around without “going all the way.”

However, some people had sex, anyway.    Consequently, they  got pregnant, which was a major social  disgrace.  In 1965 only 3% of all white births were outside of marriage, and 24% of black births.  Somehow, the majority of young people had a pretty good idea about birth control, even though they didn’t learn about it in school.

But in 1971, all public schools were required to implement a sex education program.  Strangely enough, that didn’t help matters.   By 1978, 20% of white births  and 75% of black births were to unmarried women.  Now, movie stars and TV personalities brag about getting pregnant outside the state of matrimony.  Almost half  all births are now to single moms.  it’s ’s important for kids to know about STD’s, but  that topic could be covered quickly in a basic  health class.  It’s not rocket science.

I know this is going to sound old fashioned, but shouldn’t  parents be the ones who decide how  their children learn about sex? And if parents don’t take this responsibility, should it be passed on to the public school teachers. ? They’re teachers, not parents.  It seems like an unfair burden.

And why should strangers be allowed to tell our children how, where, and when to have sex?  Shouldn’t the parents’ cultural and spiritual values guide their children’s  decisions?

The problem isn’t  about what schools should  teach about sex,  but whether they should be teaching about  it all .