Letter: Two week notice unneeded

Rochester resident Diane Starkey submitted a letter to Foster’s Daily Democrat about the new law that requires schools to give at least two weeks’ notice before teaching sex ed. Here’s an excerpt:

“Sex education” in our schools is taught along with empowerment in how to deal with sexual or other violent threats to children. As I’ve said before: When is it “appropriate”? When the child is an adult; a teen; a pre-teen; a grammar-schooler; a toddler? I did not let my guilt-ridden Catholic upbringing influence me to leave my child “innocent”. Innocence is no help when faced with a sexual predator, a bully, and a basic coward — if one only knows what to do. Keeping it all in, shutting it off, or under the rug, is no help at all.

If a child becomes frightened of the material used in these lessons, it could be a red flag — or a “teachable moment”. Children under teen age have basically no libido. They are uninterested in sex. It’s the best time to show them what they need to know — and avoid — until they are adults and serious in their intentions.

Don’t parents get notice of when this is to be coming up? Why do parents need to be “encouraged” to involve themselves in their children’s education? Why don’t the Republicans trust the parents to see to their offspring’s moral teaching.

Read the full letter here.