Dear Editor,

I write to counter the positions put forward in the letter titled ‘Yes to sex-ed and condoms in schools’, published on Friday, May 3.

All unnatural means of contraception are evil because they thwart the natural generation of life. They open up a wide and easy road towards conjugal infidelity and cause a general lowering of morality. Contraception damages the integrity of the full gift of self, which is intrinsic to the sexual act.

It is also a scientific fact that the AIDS virus can escape any technical device used, such as the condom. Hence, the only foolproof and morally legitimate solution to preventing AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases is abstinence.

Sex education should also not be taught in schools, but rather in the home by parents.

Today, people are telling us that mandatory sex education in schools is good and necessary for children to keep up with the times — even those who have not even reached the age of puberty. The result has been disastrous. There is an extremely high incidence of teenage pregnancy, of abortions obtained by teenagers, and of sexually transmitted diseases. Sex education has been the instrument used in schools to advance everything from contraception and abortion to the acceptance of homosexuality.

Contrary to conventional wisdom, sex education should be left to parents because they know their children well and can impart the proper knowledge to them at the proper time. Parents are also able to educate their children better than teachers can, because they are more able to pay attention to the complete education of their children, which involves a well-rounded schooling in the virtues of chastity, good judgement, justice, courage and self-control. It is in the family primarily, that children acquire, or fail to acquire, good values and attitudes.

There is no right way to give explicit sex instruction to children who are mentally and emotionally unprepared for it. There is no right way to give information in groups that should be given privately. There is no right way for an outsider to assume a role which belongs particularly to parents.

Sex education is the responsibility of parents, not the community, schools or health institutions.

Paul Kokoski

Hamilton, Ontario