Basic HTML Version
September 1971
essential,
it
iJ
effective oniy as it over–
Jays an earlier foundation of right char–
acter.
The very concept of "wholesome
sexual attitudes" is based upon right
moral standards and values, not merely
"head knowledge."
But the sad fact is that the public
schools have only "head knowledge" to
teach. They are totally unable to teach
right and absolute moral values. Why?
First, because they are generally excused
by law from the responsibilíty of
propagating moral values; and second,
because the educational establishment it–
self has embraced the philosophy of
moral relativism, which recognizes no
absolute standards.
Character T raining–
The Missing Ingredient
The míssing KEY to right and suc–
cessful sex education is
character train–
ing!
Without a foundation of sound
character, all the sex information in
the world will not produce the self–
discipline needed for responsible sexual
behavior.
Character m11st come first!
That is
the basic reason for the ineffectiveness
of school sex education. To provide
youths with sex knowledge before they
have the character to rightly apply that
information is putting the cart before
the horse.
Somehow man continually falls into
the same trap. His knowledge outstrips
his character development and disaster
is the result. Gunpowder, dynamite
nuclear fission, all have potential for
good, but roan has not had the character
to rightly use them. Just so with sex
education today.
But that essential, indispensable,
crucial foundation of sound character
cannot be built in the schools, as we
have seen. No, it must begin in the se–
curity, !ove and concern of a happy
family relationship -
even before
birth!
An American Academy of Pediatrics
policy statement underscored the vital
importance of such a relationship by
pointing out that, "The process of
assisting the child to grow to sexual and
emotional maturity begins with the
interpersonal adjustment of his parents
before he
iJ
born
and must cootinue by
sensitive, instructional parental example
Th~
PLAIN TRU'I1i
throughout the early and critica! forma–
tive years"
(Pediatrics,
September 1968,
p.
535).
That early parental example, not a
program of sex lectures and films ten,
twelve, or .fifteen years later, is the
beginning of responsible character and
sound sex education.
The tragic thing is that we have
known this truth for a long, long time.
Back in 1934, Leonard Blumgart admon–
ished, "lt cannot be stated too often
that the child's efforts to control his
drives are guided by the behavior of the
people he !oves and respects. It is fairly
17
it is -
adrdls
did! Although their
behavior may at times be bewildering
and bizarre, our youngsters are the vic–
tims, not the guilty. They are the leam–
ers, not the teachers.
Every major force that has chipped
away at the foundational mores of the
nation in recent years has been directed
by
ad11/ts.
Our churches have radically
liberalized their views regarding pre–
marital sex, divorce, birth control, abor–
tion, and homosexuality. In many cases
almost to the point of license.
Abortion laws are being liberalized
throughout the world. Laws forbidding
WHERE WILL YOUR CHILDREN PICK UP SEX
With the omnipresent nature of sex in our society, children will get sex
educat ion. The question is: what
kind
of information and from which source?
well agreed," be concluded,
"that the
first five years of life are the determin–
ing years in the formatio11 of charac–
ter
..."
(S
ex Edttcation: Facts and
Attit11des,
Child Study Association of
America, 1934, p. 32).
Where did we get off the track? Why
have parents allowed themselves to be
conned into believing the schools could
provide a substitute?
Clearly, parents must reassert a major
influence over the character training and
sex education of their children if we are
to avert national moral disaster.
W here to Start
For starters, we need to stop blaming
youth for the moral decadence of our
society. Children didn't make it tbe way
homosexual acts between consenting
adults have been stricken clown in
England and in two
U.
S. states.
It was medica! science that "liber–
ated" women with the pill while
analyzing, cataloging and publishing
for
alt
to read the most intimate
accounts of human sexual behavior.
And the mass entertainment industry
has almost rapaciously bent its colossal
influence to the detailing and glorifying
of every sordid, perverted and dis–
gustiog human relatiooship ever con–
ceived.
These are the tremendous forces that
are responsible for undermining our
national morals and infiuencing our
youth. And remember, they are con–
trolled by the older generation.