>Opinions Aren’t Fact
Dear Peter (Coti),
While I’ll defend your right to free speech, I take umbrage at your dismissal of parents’ concerns, portraying them as unenlightened as to the mores of the day. This of course, is exactly what concerns them. You see for some of us, we believe that certain topics are best left to the family. Just because some families choose not to discuss sexuality and its consequences with their children, does not give moral license for the state to do so.
Reproductive education based on biology is one thing. Discussing and illustrating ways to have “safe sex” to young teens offends many in our community no matter how well intentioned. One can not simply dismiss out of hand this concern.
More helpful might be an emphasis on abstinence and the social stigma attached to early sexual behavior along with the economic consequences of out of wed-lock births for both the mother and her child. As for the promiscuity heaped upon our culture by the media in the name of free speech, well let me say this, nothing is free and the havoc this coarsening of our culture has caused is very costly to our society both spiritually and monetarily.
No one is advocating that older teens shouldn’t be aware of birth control. However, there is no denying that since the “sexual revolution” of the 1960’s, when the “pill” came on the market, thus “liberating” women to have sex with men, confident that they would not get pregnant, out of wed-lock births have sky-rocketed in our society. Until that time, if a girl got pregnant, it was expected by our society that the boy marry her and care for she and the child. With the advent of women’s liberation, the only persons liberated where men from having to take responsibility for impregnating a woman. Like I said before, nothing is for free. This is the price women, children and society have paid and will continue to pay for the sexual liberation we so cherish.
So, if parents are pushing back here in Ridgewood, maybe they have a point. Is it really necessary to have teen boys go the drug store to become familiar with condoms? The only purpose is to make them feel comfortable in doing so, thus promoting the use of condoms ie: sex. And if the state (school) is promoting condoms use, then what pray tell could be wrong with teens having sex? You do understand the logic of this? Regardless of the mantra from the, “they will have sex anyways” chorus, this is not a proven fact but rather an opinion. And opinions have consequences when they become accepted reality.
Joseph Alvaro
