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we do here in Sacramento. "However,"
he continued hopefully, "we can
decrease the number of illegitimate
births - if we give doctors more
authority"
(Los Angeles Times,
June
16, 1971). What a tragic admission.
Apparently the thinking is, if you can't
legislate morality, then at least put a
"band-aid" on tbe consequences of
sexual promiscuity by authorizing the
wholesale distribution of contraceptives!
Incredible!
Venereal disease is now officially
reported as out of control. The situation
is being called "pandemic'' - or epi–
demic on a national scale. Nationwide,
new cases are occurring at the cate of
5,500 a day or one every 16 seconds
around tbe dock! And in the face of
this disaster, we are finding that our
wonder drugs of a decade or two ago
are losing their potency in treating new
and ever more virulent strains of vene–
real bacteria.
There can be no doubt that we are
living in a sexual revolution. We are
living in an era of moral decline so
rapid and so vast as to be best described
as collapse. The spectre of a disease–
ridden, bedroom-hopping, sexually he–
donistic society may not be pleasant to
contemplate, yet in brutal fact that is
where we seem to be headed.
But of course, al! of this wretched–
ness is rated X, so our children are una–
ware of it. They don't see or hear it or
learn to pattern their behavior from it
- or do they?
De facto Sex Education
Let's not kid ourselves. A few years
ago sorne might have argued with great
emotion against sex education, but
today, that argument seems ridiculous
and empty. No matter what your reli–
gious persuasion, moral convictions, or
ideals, there really is no choice any
longer.
As Clark E. Vincent, Director of the
Behavioral Science Center at Wake For–
est College observed, "Such a choice no
longer exists. Youth is literally inun–
dated with information, ideas and atti–
tudes about sex via televísion, movies,
oewspapers, paperback books, maga–
zines and members of their own age
group . . . it is pointless to continue de–
bating whether or not youth should
The
PLAIN TRUTH
receive sex education.
They are!" (Jottr–
nal of the American College Health
Association,
May 1967, p. 49).
Yes, whether we like it or not, we
live in an age of
de facto sex education
- da
y
in
and da
y
out! It's in fuU
swing all around us via the mass media
and increasingly in the deteriorating
moral standards of society. lt grinds on
relentlessl
y.
The daily torrent of sex-oriented ad–
vertising, reading matter, and entertain–
ment to which our children and youth
are exposed is having a powerful educa–
tional impact - an impact far greater
than most of us realize or cace to admit.
And there
is
literally no way of escap–
ing it short of retreating to a remote
cave somewhere. lt is in1possible to iso–
late youngsters from society's pre–
occupation with sex.
No, the question is no longer
whether we should have sex education;
we can't avoid it. The real question
today is how best to neutralize the sex
propaganda of society. What we desper–
ately need is a
counter
sex education
program, if you please - a program
which will insure the balance, morality,
and wholesomeness of our children's
concepts of sex and sexuality.
Of one thing we can be absolutely
certain. To leave today's youth with
warped, perverted, libertine and irre–
sponsible attitudes toward sex is to guar–
antee the destruction of the family unit
for future generations. And, that in
turn means consigning our nations to
oblivion.
But the public has been led to expect
that sex education in the schools would
give youth the knowledge, the essential
facts with which to make wise decisions
regarding sexual behavior. That hasn't
happened, has it? Then what has gone
wrong? After better than six years of
sex education classes in thousands of
schools across the nation, conditions
ought to be better, but they are worse
than ever before. Why ?
School Sex Education
Ineffective
Could it be that the schools have lim–
itations in this field after all? Maybe
it's time to admit that the schools are
unable to do an effective job of chang–
ing attitudes toward sex. Maybe it's
September 1971
time we realized what we should have
known all along, that
responsíble sexual
behavior does not remlt from /ectttres,
textbooks, training films, and free–
wheeling adolescent discussion grottps
( our emphasis throughout) .
No, these programs have been labor–
ing under two utterly false assump–
tions: first, the belief that possession of
sex facts will change sex attitudes; and
second, the idea that youngsters basi–
cally form their life-long outlook re–
garding sexuality during their school
years. The dismal results have clearly
proven these assumptions wrong and
school sex education programs in–
effective.
Sex Information Not Enough
Mere knowledge about human anat–
omy, reproductive processes and venereal
disease will not guarantee responsible
sexual behavior. Even most advocates of
sex education have never dared to make
such a daim. Yet parents have generally
expected it.
On the contrary, one authority
recently remarked, " . .. the basic de–
terminants of sexual permissiveness are
not
controlled
by
contraceptives or
venereal disease information, but by
much more
fundamental val11es.
Young
people who refrain from premarital
intercourse are not going to be encour–
aged to do so merely because they have
safety information. On the other hand,
those who do want to indulge will,
whether they have safety information or
not"
(California Teachers Association
Jottrnal,
January 1969, pp. 9-10).
No, sex facts catalogued and sepa–
rated from the rest of life have little
impact on attitudes. Sex in its fullest
meaning just cannot be understood
through a school currículum as one
understands the facts of arithmetic or
physics. Sex, after all,
is
what people
are,
not merely an activity they engage
in. And, the concept of sexuality should
properly encompass the
total
person, the
total quality of maleness or femaleness,
not simply genital development, sex
drives, and techniques.
In the final analysis, sex information
taught apart from sound moral values
cannot be expected to instill wholesome
sexual attitudes in young persons.
While knowledge about sex is no doubt