'We had faith in the head teacher and the school that all they would be learning would be basic puberty. It should have said in the letter children would learn how to have sexual intercourse.'Predictably, some of the children started copying what they had seen in the film. This relates to the problem of sexual assault in schools which is obviously exacerbated by explicit sex-education. In addition to graphic cartoons of people having sexual intercourse, the Channel 4 programme also teaches children all about masturbation. Having learned what was actually in the programme, Lisa Bullivant was understandably horrified and has taken her daughter out of East Wold Primary School.
The controversy over faith schools and sex education has focussed on the rights of faith schools to teach according to their "ethos" and whether this will actually leave Catholic schools free to teach Catholic doctrine as true. However we also have a responsibility to witness to moral truth in society as a whole, not only in our own schools. The Channel 4 programme is widely used and many ordinary parents would be horrified if they knew what their child was being shown in "Living and Growing". Some years ago in Dagenham, parents at a state school protested vigorously and got the programme banned once they realised what was in it.
The DCSF piously talks of letting children know "the facts." Parents also need to know the facts, and in particular just exactly what is being shown to their seven year old children. As Catholics our mission in not simply to preserve our own schools with a limited amount of leeway in "religious ethos" - we are in a position to help other parents to protect their children from this grave assault on their innocence. Many parents are embarrassed to talk to their children about the facts of life. They need to know what will happen if they turn over this duty to the state.
(There is some more information about "Living and Growing" at previous posts: Sex-ed programme slammed by Daily Mail and Sex-ed: pouring petrol on the fire.)
6 comments:
"We had faith in the head teacher and the school"
I think the one thing any caring parent has learned over the years is that you cannot trust anyone with Our Glorious Faith. The catholic schools, the parish church, friends and family all need to be vetted if you want your child to grow up knowing the truth about their faith.
We cannot expect our Catholic Schools to teach the beauty of the Catholic Church's teaching on human sexuality when more than half the teachers are not catholic and the others are contracepting/aborting/living together (unmarried). Children are not stupid - you cannot tell them to do as I say and then do something totally different yourself.
We are all concerned about the sexual assault on our schools by the government but the rot has already set in. When you hear what is discussed in classrooms by teachers (definately not reflecting Catholic Ethos) then the only answer is to home school.
'Many parents are embarrassed to talk to their children about the facts of life' I don't think this is the case anymore. Maybe they can't be bothered or are just used to the nanny state doing everything but they are not embarrassed. After all the TV programmes they sit and watch together are often morally void and sexually explicit and the Sun newspaper lying on the kitchen table hardly indicates embarrassment. Also, if the parents get the chance before the school takes over, when the time is right and the child is ready, then they will discuss conjugal love, but not at the age of seven.
Well, excactly! Something very like this (thank goodness no films, though)was presented at my 12 year old son's school (I'm commenting from Scandinavia). I protested to the school's Head, quoting from a perfectly disgusting booklet my son brought home with him. She had in fact not know about its contents and asked if she could quote me when taking this up with the teachers involved. Parents must protest!
Dear Father
As ever - thanks to you for all that you are doing.
It is most distressing that this kind of material is being used for children as young as 7 years old.
As you rightly state we have a duty to witness to the whole of society. We are extremely worried for our nephews and nieces - some of whom are not Catholics and who are exposed to this wicked betrayal of their innocence.
Meanwhile our own Catholic schools are in grave peril due to the scandalous CES and the disconcerting silence of our Bishops.
That on-line petition asking for our Bishops to take action is stalling now and only has a few days to run. It is worrying that so few have added their names at this 11th hour.
Due to the gravity of the situation - souls and lives are in peril - can it be mentioned on your blog?
In Christ
Alan and Angeline
When I was a Primary School Governor, we had a new sex-ed programme (which was quite sensible, and stopped at a reasonable and morally acceptable point) - and the Governing Body invited the parents to come and see it . . .
That seems to me to be a sensible solution, because parents could see just how dire much of the material is, and make their own decisions about whether they want their children exposed to it.
Welcome, folks, into the New World Order...this sex-ed rubbish is just out of my orbit...when I was in grade school 7th grade, I believe (in the States) we were divided, boys in one room, girls in another; we had "the talk"...the film (which described the changes going on and other things without graphic or obscene details)...that was it...back in the '70s. And that was probably pretty conservative, considering the times (I lived in a rural area in Illinois).
What parents and children have to contend with today is just unbelievable...God help us all!
Gee Whiz, Nazareth priest...your Catholic school for 7th grade was far more advanced in the than my Catholic 7th grade year (in New Hampshire) in the late 60s.
We had ZERO instruction. The older girls (grade 6-8) had concluded that since there were NO Kotex machines in our girls restrooms, that evidently nuns didn't get their periods, ergo, none of them thought us girls aged 11-13 did either...the lucky ones of us found out from our mothers or older sisters or classmates. I was lucky I had found out a few short months before my first one (and my mother was glad I brought it up because she was going to) - otherwise, I would have thought I was bleeding to death!
Now in "high school" our sophomore religious instructor basically acknowledged to us girls that boys were nasty evil creatures and we would have to be the ones to set the limit, he said it wasn't fair, but we were to realize boys were much more easily prone to committing a sin against the 6th commandment. We took his word for it, given how our own fathers would start cleaning their .22s and 30-.06's when we mentioned that we'd been invited on our first dates. Oh, and in bio they went over the basic biology facts.
and in gym class they divided us up. Their form of telling us about "birth control" was showing us girls a movie of a live birth - which grossed us all out for a good two weeks. Enough to snub any male that said 'hi" to us. Lord only knows what they told the boys.
Post a Comment