Subject: Letters to the Editor: Church Dogma for Sex Education
Date: Published: 7/16/91 (92 lines)
Source: Wall Street Journal. Copyright Dow Jones & Co. Inc.

    Letters to the Editor:
    Church Dogma for Sex Education

    In response to your June 13 editorial "ACLU Book-Banning"
 regarding the attempt to ban the "Sex Respect" curriculum
 from Wisconsin's schoolrooms:  There is no doubt about the
 need for sex education in public schools.  The high rate of
 teen-age pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases and the
 AIDS epidemic are all reason enough to discourage teen-agers
 from throwing caution to the wind when it comes to sex.
 However, a curriculum designed to discourage sexual activity
 should not be based on religious dogma that perpetuates the
 effect of past discrimination toward people on the basis of
 sex, creed, marital status and sexual orientation.  That is
 the crux of the problem presented by the American Civil
 Liberties Union of Wisconsin Foundation in an appeal to
 Wisconsin's Department of Public Instruction regarding the
 use of "Sex Respect" in the East Troy Community Schools.
    According to Sex Respect, contraceptives are dangerous to
 one's health; abortion is murder and may cause future
 reproductive problems; AIDS is nature's way of making a
 statement about homosexuality; two-parent heterosexual
 couples are the sole model of a healthy "real" family; and
 Planned Parenthood, pornography and drugs are causes of
 promiscuity.
    The supporters of "Sex Respect" and its author have caught
 media attention by claiming that the ACLU of Wisconsin
 Foundation is trying to censor their curriculum.  In fact, it
 is the Sex Respect curriculum that is being used to censor
 scientific and medical information necessary for young people
 to understand the full implications of premature sexual
 activity, pregnancy and parenthood.
    The East Troy School District and its supporters don't
 want students to know about abortion and contraceptives.  They
 don't want them to learn about non-traditional ways of life
 or about the availability of information and reproductive
 services at Planned Parenthood.  They don't want students
 exposed to any program except one that follows their
 fundamentalist Christian view of the world.  Taking Jesus
 Christ along with you on your date, as one of the resource
 books suggest, is a message more appropriate in a church than
 in a public school.
    Parents who object to the curriculum can have their
 children excused, the supporters of Sex Respect also argue.
 The same argument is used to promote prayer in public
 schools, which puts parents between a rock and a hard place.
 Parents are wary of exposing their children to religious
 indoctrination not of their own choosing but are also
 reluctant to have their children singled out as being
 different.
    If the long-term goal of the East Troy School District is
 to reduce teen-age pregnancy and discourage young people from
 engaging in sexual activities -- that's fine.  If the
 curriculum used to achieve that goal is steeped in religious
 dogma, then parents have a legitimate reason to seek a
 change.
    Eunice Zoghlin Edgar
    Executive Director
    ACLU of Wisconsin
    Milwaukee
    ---
    As one of many Wisconsin parents opposed to "Sex Respect,"
 I am pleased and proud that my state has laws prohibiting
 one-sided, stereotyped, biased and inaccurate materials in
 our public schools.
    The Sex Respect curriculum and others like it such as Teen
 Aide, the Challenge Program and Facing Reality masquerade as
 comprehensive education while presenting only one moral or
 religious viewpoint.  That is why many school districts in
 Wisconsin have chosen either not to implement such curricula
 or, upon parental complaint, to cease using it.
    Abstinence is and should be the goal of any Human Growth
 and Development curriculum, but it is equally important that
 we provide our children with full and accurate information
 that fosters positive decision-making skills and
 responsibility for not only their adolescent years, but for
 their entire lives.  Curriculum that centers on "Just Say No"
 does not give students necessary lifelong critical skills.
    The fact that Sex Respect is unwilling to allow discussion
 of all values and viewpoints is ironically the greatest
 threat to the First Amendment right of free speech.
    Stan Kocos
    Fond du Lac, Wis.

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