Why Bother with Sex Ed?

Medical science has just offered a way out for parents and educators who can't be bothered about training kids in moral character. It's called Norplant, a synthetic hormone that is implanted under the skin and prevents pregnancy for five years. Public health professionals are heralding the implant as a great boon for the inner cities, where teen pregnancies are so high. The Baltimore health commissioner is quoted as saying the implant "will cover [girls] during their school years, which is what you want." I beg your pardon, but I thought what we wanted during their school years was to teach them. Teach them citizenship, responsibility, and a high moral code. Teach them to take their lives and their choices seriously. Norplant does just the opposite: It trivializes choices regarding sexuality. Sexual relations are no longer weighted with moral significance, no longer dignified as the means of family formation, no longer anything but a form of recreation. Nevertheless, Norplant is being backed by several professional organizations, from Planned Parenthood to government family-planning programs. The Baltimore health commissioner has even put together a professional association called the Norplant Consortium, an alliance of public health administrators, hospitals, private doctors, and local philanthropic foundations. When you think about it, most of the radical ideas that have gained a foothold in our society have come in under impeccable professional auspices. Take abortion. As the late Francis Schaeffer pointed out, the abortion movement has its most powerful allies in the medical community. Or take euthanasia. Doctor-assisted suicide is the brainchild of, you guessed it, doctors. Take value-free sex education, promoted by groups like the Sex Information and Education Council of the United States-SIECUS for short. SIECUS guidelines treat abortion as just another option and recommend teaching that homosexual relations can be "as fulfilling as heterosexual relationships." The SIECUS guidelines have been officially endorsed by the Centers for Disease Control, the National School Board Association, and the American Medical Association. All impeccable professional organizations. Remember the Brave New World described by Aldous Huxley in his famous novel? Huxley predicted that the government would give its citizens birth control drugs to allow them to enjoy completely unfettered sexuality. The idea was to keep them in a state of perpetual sexual excitement so the state could control them. When Huxley wrote his novel, this was regarded as a frightening scenario. Today completely unfettered sexuality is being promoted by the most respectable professional groups. Christians need to fight back by forming our own professional organizations. We can't afford to let our foes paint us as uneducated reactionaries. Christians in the professions need to realize the power of associations, titles, and letterhead stationery. The Norplant Consortium is in Baltimore, but similar organizations will be coming to your community. So let's be ready: Let's make it our goal to establish alternative professional groups that treat youngsters as real moral agents. Not as pawns in a brave new world.

12/16/92