“Ignorance May Be Bliss, but Knowledge is Power”
    by the Rev. Dennis McCarty
	Several years ago, the United Church of Christ and the Unitarian Universalist Association joined forces to produce a series of religious education (Sunday
school) curricula called “Our Whole Lives.” We developed the O.W.L. program to teach sex education to children of faith.
	It’s pretty frank. Lessons for smaller kids teach simpler concepts. Boys and girls are different. People have different body shapes and are different in other ways. We should respect ourselves and one another. If someone tries to touch your body’s private areas, you need to find a grownup you can trust and let them know.
	Older kids get more advanced information, from “the facts of life,” on up. The high school lessons include facts I didn’t even know. There’s also information on masturbation, oral sex, and venerial disease, stuff that made me uncomfortable when I read it. Teaching O.W.L. to teenagers requires courage, honesty, and sensitivity. I’m glad we have members willing and able to do it.
	Sometimes a church member asks me, “Why do we teach sex education in Sunday school? And why do we teach it in such an explicit way?” My answer is, “Because we live in a culture with a split personality about sex.”
	On the one hand, pop music, television, and movies give kids a strong message that if you’re normal, you’re “doin’ it.” A lot. With anybody you can. And there are no consequences. Sex never leads to disease or pregnancy or heartbreak, it just makes you glamorous. Walk into an Abercrombie and Fitch clothing store--the message is that the only reason to even wear clothes, is to tempt someone to tear them off you.
	On the other hand, another part of our culture tells kids, “Sex is bad. It should be kept secret. The less you know the better. And don’t ever talk about it, especially not in church or school.”
	This kind of confusion is a recipe for trouble. And trouble is what we’ve got. Heedless sex has caused trouble as long as there have been human beings. Just read the Bible, Greek tragedy or Shakespeare. But today, it’s worse than ever. The media’s sexual glitter tempts kids relentlessly. Kids are on their own more, so there’s more opportunity. Sexually transmitted diseases are a bigger problem than ever.
And in a technological culture where education is the key to success, unwise kids have more to lose than ever.
	Our children need honest information from people they can trust. They need facts to help them make wise, well well-informed decisions when the pressure’s on, when they’re tempted, when they’re confused. Teaching them ignorance and fear of sex doesn’t get it.
Teaching the truth does. In our homes, in our churches, and in our schools.
	The excuse I hear is that if we teach our children about sex, they’ll run right out and try it. By that logic, if we teach them about drugs, they’ll run out and buy meth. Or if we teach them about electricity, they’ll run out and stick their fingers in light sockets. It just doesn’t wash.
	The obvious is true. If we don’t teach our kids about sex, what we do teach them is silence. We teach them secrecy. Then when some adult starts sexually abusing them, or when those hormones do start calling and someone’s putting the pressure on for more than just a kiss, they’d better not tell anybody. After all, talking about sex is bad. They’ll just have to handle it in secret and alone. That’s a recipe for disaster.
I can’t think of a better way to hand our children over to the creeps, glittermeisters, and users, bound and gagged.
	For those reasons, I was pleased to see our high schools’ student newspapers take on topics of sexuality and sexual ethics. The writers acted responsibly, wrote thoughtful articles under proper supervision, and called for responsible behavior.
Bravo for them. Their actions spoke well of them, as mature young adults.
	But--predictably, I suppose--the “ignorance is good”
crowd is now bouncing off the walls, calling for censorship of student publications, on and on. We’ve heard it all before.
	Excuse me, but aren’t the folks stirring up this fuss and fury over student publications the same ones who also want us to educate our children on the cheap, spend as little money as possible on programs and buildings? Why is it that the people who  want to pay the least to educate our children, are the first to complain when we don’t run the schools precisely the way they say?
	I applaud the student newspapers at both East and North high schools. And I hope our school board (and our voters) have the courage to stand up for knowledge over ignorance.

  
The Reverend Dennis McCarty is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Columbus. His opinions are his own, and not necessarily shared by members of his church. He can be reached by e-mail at columnists@therepublic.com