by N. O. Tate

Created on: July 13, 2007   Last Updated: February 23, 2008

Schools. Their very nature is structure. As such, it is necessary for them to set standards and benchmarks for our children. What concerns me about schools informing our children about sensitive personal matters is that the emotional curve of the individual child cannot be taken into account. Simply put, some may not be ready for this discussion.

While some eight and nine-year-old children are savvy about everything from drugs, to sex to world events, others of that age group are completely naive about these subjects. In fact, there are some who retain innocence until they reach their teens. There is nothing wrong with this guileless approach toward life. Children who are allowed to bask in the purity of childhood, retain a vision of what "might be." Because of this, they are very often the ones who DO affect real and effective changes in our world.

By requiring that all children learn about sensitive sexual subjects by a certain age, we would not be taking into account their emotional readiness. Parents who know their offspring well may elect to tell one child about these matters when he/she is eleven years old. But by observing another child's perspective, may hold off until that child is thirteen or fourteen. Granted, a child will have been exposed to all the "words" and "whispers" within a junior high school environment by then, but in some cases, that is the very trigger that allows for a reasonable dialogue between parent and child.

There is another issue to be considered here. In today's society, I doubt any teacher would insert an attitude of intolerance into the curriculum. But in the future, if this education forum were legislated, who would monitor the teachers to ensure that this attitude was not inherent to the lesson?

Parents are far-better suited to address both the political, sociological and religious implications concerning gay relationships. They are also better suited to express compassion toward something that none, (most likely not even those affected), completely understand. And finally, they are better suited to field any questions about the actual act of sex that will surely arise from this discussion. (While many children will want to know how love fits into the equation, others may want to know what role the act of sex is going to have in their lives).

It behooves us as parents to answer the on-going questions that begin at about two years of age. The way a child words a question gives a clue as to their current understanding of any subject. It is a privilege to borne our children toward new comprehensions concerning adult life. And, if we gently expose them to all the juxtapositions of the world, they will greet that experience with readiness and enthusiasm that can seldom be nurtured in a clinical, detached environment, such as a classroom.

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