Birds, Bees and Not-So-Civil Servants

Now, children, we present a cautionary tale....

The 4th grade child brings a note home in his "communication folder" one Friday afternoon. Behold, the school is ready to present its "Family Life" curriculum next week! The curriculum will endeavor to present, in a rudimentary fashion, certain aspects of human sexuality and reproduction, including "Fertilization of the Egg" and "AIDS," among other things. The curriculum is available for review in the school library. Please tell us whether your child will participate by no later than Tuesday morning!

Human sexuality is ubiquitous. Many, many people have made the study of it their life's work. People as varied as Hugh Hefner and Oprah Winfrey have gained vast wealth through clever marketing and exploitation of the topic. You cannot avoid sex talk in our society. Half the cable channels are filled with mouth-breathing discussions of the topic. What is the likelihood these days that any 4th grader hasn't already heard all about it? So what's the big deal about this, right?

It makes you wonder - why even ask a parent if their children can participate? We are all participants in the discussion, even if we never say a word. There isn't a day when I don't encounter someone's else sexual self-expression somewhere, either over the airwaves or in one of the newspapers that land on my doorstep. Parents who attempt to control what their children are learning are plowing the sea.

Still, the note I mentioned did come to us last Friday. And when I complained to the school that one day is hardly enough time to review the materials, I received a high-handed note back from the school administrators about their "not being able to tailor the curriculum to specific parent concerns." Never mind that we have no interest in altering the course material. We just want to know what it is we are approving. Can't tell us that, apparently.

I've long sensed that when schoolteachers started thinking of themselves as "educators," that the fundamental relationship between them and the public they serve was changed inalterably. To question a decision is to be labelled a troublemaker or an "angry parent." Sometimes, all we're asking for, as Otis and Aretha would say, is a little respect.