By Trevor Bothwell
web posted March 14, 2005
The Washington Times reported recently that Maryland's Montgomery County public school district has identified three schools that will participate in a new sex ed program. What exactly will this "new" program entail? According to the Times,
Bethesda Chevy-Chase High School in Bethesda, Seneca Valley High School in Germantown and Springbrook High School in Silver Spring will take part in the high school course in which 10th-graders will be shown how to put condoms on cucumbers.
Martin Luther King Middle School in Germantown, Tilden Middle School in Rockville and White Oak Middle School in Silver Spring will participate in the middle school curriculum in which eighth-graders will learn that homosexual couples are the newest American family.
Phew! And here I almost thought that maybe the district was going to propose an education program that was actually different from every other sex ed program in the country -- say, a curriculum encouraging kids not to have sex until they're married, or at least out of high school. Maybe a curriculum teaching that having sex as a teenager can result in the contraction of an STD or an unwanted pregnancy; a program that seeks to actually educate kids about the life-altering consequences of having a baby out of wedlock -- like pretty much forgetting about college, spending your teen years with a baby instead of your friends, and looking forward to a fun life on welfare in a trailer park because you can't qualify for a good job without the academic skills most employers demand. Of course, you won't really have to worry about working anyway, since you have a kid to look after now.
Silly me. Why would I ever even hold out hope that our public schools would take the rational and sensible approach to teaching about sex (if they insist)? After all, liberals endorse abortion-on-demand and welfare-on-demand. If your irresponsible and frivolous lifestyle encouraged by the local school results in unintended consequences, why, just head to Planned Parenthood (pick up a brochure from the school secretary) or to your local unemployment office! This is America!
If our public schools insist on wasting time teaching sex education when it clearly wouldn't kill them to spend a little extra time teaching kids geography, classical literature and the writing process, you'd think that at the very least they could come up with something a little more creative than the old "condom and the cucumber" trick. I mean, the freaking thing works one way and not the other. Even kids who can't read can figure that one out.
But here's the brutal truth: this isn't even about teaching about sex, much less disease prevention and the like. This is about our taxpayer-subsidized government schools indoctrinating our children with leftist ideology that encourages sexual license in society, where we're all free (and expected) to explore our wildest fantasies, especially if that means flashing our proverbial derrieres at those uptight nimrods on the right who actually expect members of society to exercise a bit of self-restraint and personal responsibility.
According to the Times, groups such as TeachtheFacts.org, who support this rubbish, even admit "the new course introduces information about homosexuality that students will find out regardless of whether they are taught about it."
Gee, and here I was almost convinced that teaching sex and homosexuality to kids who have no business even thinking about sex and homosexuality was one of those "compelling state interests" we hear so much about. Even supporters of this program admit there's no need to waste time on these pet projects during the school day.
I've beaten the drum relentlessly about the failures of our public schools academically and socially (see here, here, and here). And now we even have supporters of ridiculous "sex education" programs on record admitting that kids really aren't learning anything they wouldn't otherwise pick up from watching television, talking with their parents, or taking a walk in a park. But, hey, as long as it means our schools can get away with using even more excuses to ignore the most pressing academicdeficiencies in our children, apparently that's all that really matters. 
Trevor Bothwell is a freelance writer living in Maryland . He is a former Maryland public school teacher, and he has worked as an adjunct instructor at the College of Southern Maryland . Trevor maintains a web log at www.therightreport.com, and he can be contacted at bothwelltj@yahoo.com.
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