Leave sex ed to parents

THE EDITOR: The suggestion that sex education should be taught in our schools seems to be a topic on the front burner.

I believe the main question or the heart of the matter is “what will be taught.” This is a large topic and there can be many aspects on this subject; various opinions which can also contradict certain beliefs, values, morale and spiritual standards. While one parent may see it as being okay to discuss certain things along this line another can strongly object.

There is the great danger of those teaching passing on their own personal take on the subject matter which can meet with the disapproval of many parents. In my humble opinion I believe this responsibility should lie, firstly, in the hands of the parents and, secondly, the religious bodies. Parents need to see this as being important and not just leave it up to their children to find out on their own. The religious bodies need to also endorse what the parents are doing in the confinements of their teachings.

While I believe the intention may honestly be to educate our nation’s children as a defense against what we are seeing taking place with our youths. Let us see the bigger picture and some of the risk involved, respecting parent’s feelings and opinions together with religious beliefs. I believe this is the way to go.

Arnold Gopeesingh, San Juan