GOVERNOR SHOULD RECONSIDER ABSTINENCE VETO

Gov. Deval Patrick apparently doesn't want any other person or group
imposing their values on Massachusetts schoolchildren. But he thinks
it's fine for him to impose his own values on them.

That is the only conclusion to draw from a rhetorical war over sex
education now raging between Patrick and the National Abstinence
Education Association.

Patrick recently vetoed a $700,000 federal grant for abstinence
education, prompting the NAEA to launch an ad campaign that says,
"Deval Patrick doesn't want 11-year-olds taught to say 'No' to sex."

The administration shot back, contending that this is a complete
distortion of Patrick's position. Health and Human Services Secretary
JudyAnn Bigby says the reasons for the rejection are that the grant
requires teaching that is not based on scientific fact, and that is
biased.

Well. That wouldn't be happening in any other school programs, would
it?

Actually, it does. The DARE program, which encourages students not to
abuse alcohol or use illegal drugs, leaves out quite a few scientific
facts about marijuana. The information presented is extremely
biased. It just happens to be biased in a way that pleases the governor.

The other argument - that kids are going to have sex anyway and
therefore need to be taught to do it safely - is just as weak.

Kids are also going to do drugs, no matter what adults say. But drug
education doesn't teach kids how to use them safely. It teaches
abstinence. The same is true for those who commit road-rage offenses
because their emotions get out of control. The mandatory classes on
road rage don't teach them how to do that safely. They teach one
thing - abstinence.

Just because all kids don't comply with what they are taught doesn't
mean it is a bad thing to teach them.

The governor should consider something else as well. It is illegal
for children younger than 16 to have sex in Massachusetts, even with
a peer. The law says they are too young to give consent.

Does Patrick really want the schools to teach kids aged 8 through 15
how to break the law "safely?"

That is a "value" even he ought to find offensive.