1967: SIECUS hears from young men.An Invitation Dear Dr. Calderone: As a teenager I find that my world is constantly changing and right now what is my world but a group of loosely connected ideas and attitudes? What are these attitudes? They are my outlook on education, on religion, on my place in society, on love--on sex. Love and sex come last for those two seem to me to be changeable concepts. I search for a relationship between them, for a meaning of one without the other. I know not a meaning if there is one, for I have not had experience to determine one. Yet, at least now I search for an answer. The question is whether or not a firm attitude towards sex can be established in a person ignorant of the subject? I recall walking into seventh grade with the notion that a father had absolutely nothing to do with the conception of a child. I recall my parents telling each other that I would learn about sex on my own. I remember my religion teacher shying way from the subject. I saved myself through the use of the public library and their books on the subject. What about the millions of other children and adolescents who, unlike me, learned about sex on the street corners instead of in the home, in church, or in the library? Some will undoubtedly form good attitudes naturally. But the others? Can compulsory sex education in school solve the problems of increases in illegitimate ILLEGITIMATE. That which is contrary to law; it is usually applied to children born out of lawful wedlock. A bastard is sometimes called an illegitimate child. births, of venereal disease venereal disease (vənēr`ēəl): see sexually transmitted disease. , of ignorance on the subject of sex? You believe we must try and so do I. I cited my case as a typical one. In my school there are 1200 others, some who have had no sex education whatever. We have no sex education courses in our school district, although we have almost every other imaginable i·mag·i·na·ble adj. Conceivable in the imagination: imaginable exploits. i·mag program. I would like to invite you to speak before the student body and faculty of my school on the goals of sex education in school and its progress throughout the county. This would be an educational experience not only for the student body but for the faculty and board members also.... Bob D'Acquisto High School Senior, 1967-68 School Year A Statement Maturing in a society that separates its members into adult and adolescent sectors, the teenager is often faced with the problem of communication. The question of an adequate sex education is subsidiary to the difficulty of establishing free exchange through society's stratifications. What we need to introduce in our sex education program is communication. We must create situations in which the free flow of fact and opinion between parents and children is accepted. The days in which parents could afford to hold "wicked Wicked may refer to:
adj. 1. a. Causing shame; disgraceful. b. Giving offense; indecent. 2. Archaic Full of shame; ashamed. " secrets from their children are over. The time in which students could snicker at each other while ignoring each others' opinions is finished. The definition of education that labeled sex as an untouchable untouchable Former classification of various low-status persons and those outside the Hindu caste system in Indian society. The term Dalit is now used for such people (in preference to Mohandas K. and generally controversial idea has exploded ex·plode v. ex·plod·ed, ex·plod·ing, ex·plodes v.intr. 1. To release mechanical, chemical, or nuclear energy by the sudden production of gases in a confined space: . Our goals as teenagers must be to introduce a new dialogue when we are faced, in our daily lives, with procrastination and embarrassment. Sex education in America is woefully woe·ful also wo·ful adj. 1. Affected by or full of woe; mournful. 2. Causing or involving woe. 3. Deplorably bad or wretched: lacking. To establish an adequate sex education program in our schools will require a flood of imaginative and vital courses. Presently we have a rather irregular HEIR, IRREGULAR. In Louisiana, irregular heirs are those who are neither testamentary nor legal, and who have been established by law to take the succession. See Civ. Code of Lo. art. 874. trickle. A truly modern approach must involve both school and home in an integrated program.... Excerpted from SIECUS SIECUS Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States Newsletter, Volume 3, Number 3, September 1967. Marc H. Aronson High School Junior, 1967-68 School Year |
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