Pubdate: Sat, 08 Sep 2007
Source: Gloucester Daily Times (MA)
Copyright: 2007 Essex County Newspapers, Incorporated.
Contact: http://www.salemnews.com/email/#Editor-g
Website: http://www.gloucestertimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/169

GOVERNOR SHOULD RECONSIDER ABSTINENCE VETO

Gov. Deval Patrick apparently doesn't want any other  person or group
imposing their values on Massachusetts  schoolchildren. But he thinks
it's fine for him to  impose his own values on them.

That is the only conclusion to draw from a rhetorical  war over sex
education now raging between Patrick and  the National Abstinence
Education Association.

Patrick recently vetoed a $700,000 federal grant for  abstinence
education, prompting the NAEA to launch an  ad campaign that says,
"Deval Patrick doesn't want  11-year-olds taught to say 'No' to sex."

The administration shot back, contending that this is a  complete
distortion of Patrick's position. Health and  Human Services Secretary
JudyAnn Bigby says the reasons  for the rejection are that the grant
requires teaching  that is not based on scientific fact, and that is
biased.

Well. That wouldn't be happening in any other school  programs, would
it?

Actually, it does. The DARE program, which encourages  students not to
abuse alcohol or use illegal drugs,  leaves out quite a few scientific
facts about  marijuana. The information presented is extremely
biased. It just happens to be biased in a way that  pleases the governor.

The other argument - that kids are going to have sex  anyway and
therefore need to be taught to do it safely  - is just as weak.

Kids are also going to do drugs, no matter what adults  say. But drug
education doesn't teach kids how to use  them safely. It teaches
abstinence. The same is true  for those who commit road-rage offenses
because their  emotions get out of control. The mandatory classes on
road rage don't teach them how to do that safely. They  teach one
thing - abstinence.

Just because all kids don't comply with what they are  taught doesn't
mean it is a bad thing to teach them.

The governor should consider something else as well. It  is illegal
for children younger than 16 to have sex in  Massachusetts, even with
a peer. The law says they are  too young to give consent.

Does Patrick really want the schools to teach kids aged  8 through 15
how to break the law "safely?"

That is a "value" even he ought to find offensive.
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MAP posted-by: Derek