Sex Education in Newport-Mesa

Most parents trust the school system to help in the area of educating their children, but still realize that the responsibility of their training is ultimately their own. Therefore, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to me that parents should be concerned when they discover that their child is being taught material in a classroom that is directly opposed to what they believe and are teaching at home.

Some parents in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District are being branded as extremists because they object to portions of the curriculum being taught their children. Even though our state has given guidelines to stress abstinence, Maya Decker’s class at Corona del Mar High School apparently puts the stress elsewhere. Parents resent their children having to spend class time learning how to put condoms on bananas, and being taught human sexual responses.

Students, some already looking for an excuse, might misinterpret the teacher’s purpose in introducing them to these exciting areas. Adolescents might consider this teaching a form of acceptance for sex at the high school level. If so, what a tragedy.

These same parents are being branded extremists because they object to a psychology teacher who explains sexual deviant behavior, such as bestiality, and others much more bizarre. The approach to teaching homosexuality is another concern. These parents’ main objection isn’t that their children are being taught that the homosexual life style is perfectly normal.

It isn’t that a teacher invites homosexuals into the classroom to explain their life style to the students. No, these parents are mainly objecting because they believe that the students in class should be equally presented with the alternative viewpoints as well. Students become confused when a teacher presents, as fact, information that refutes what they have been taught at home.

Ultimately, what these parents are seeking is to establish criteria that would enable selected parents, along with school administrators and teachers, to decide upon the material to be used in classes that deal with sensitive issues--curriculum that would be acceptable to everyone. I don’t call that thinking “extremism.” Actually, I think it would best be described as responsible parenting.

BONNIE O’NEIL

Newport Beach