The female voice on the other end of the phone cracked with emotion. A mother revealed that her 15-year- old daughter was pregnant.
How can a high school sophomore who still watches Scooby Doo cartoons be pregnant? And then came this mother's tears, anger and worry about a cavalier attitude and the high comfort level with premarital sex and its product. We both wondered, "Is there no shame or remorse? Where do they get this stuff?"In September, freshman Elisha Dov Hack entered Yale University under a mandate that he live in a coed dorm complete with a "safe sex" cabinet full of condoms. Hack, an Orthodox Jew who found the dorm residents' sexual promiscuity both offensive and contrary to an intellectual atmosphere, asked to live elsewhere. He was denied permission because Yale, with its respect for diversity in all forms except religious chastity, indicated it could not accommodate every crank who comes along. You start permitting moral people to assert their beliefs, there will be no more orgies, students will be studying, and it will be anarchy.
September poverty-rate studies unleashed sympathetic profiles of unwed and single mothers. No mention was made that a single mother is seven times more likely to end up in poverty. Repeated mention was made of the need for more government benefits.
On Oct. 1, Jane Fonda and the world's largest condom maker began a school campaign to increase condom awareness and use. Mrs. Hanoi-Turner stated in the campaign kick-off, "Abstinence until marriage is based on an unreal world that isn't out there." Regarding a $50 million new federal government education program that teaches abstinence until marriage, the former Barbarella had her thoughts and official survey results, "Most Americans don't know their tax money is being used for that," and "Most Americans don't want it."
On Oct. 3, my daughter returned home from high school to report that she saw a boy touching a sophomore girl's rounded belly as the girl exclaimed, "Do you feel it kicking?" Despite the demands of wood shop and front yard toilet-paper escapades, he'll make an excellent father.
On Oct. 22, a wedding announcement arrived that perplexed my children because the announcement includes a photo of three small children announcing the marriage of their parents. "How can that be?" was the question from my 7-year-old boy. I explained it was all done with new math.
On Oct. 23, a letter from a school district superintendent explained that valuable information is conveyed in "home ec" classes and listed pre- and post-natal care as examples of the curriculum in these seventh-grade courses.
Also on Oct. 23, my daughter reported a new pregnancy in her PE class. The newest mother-to-be/cartoon fan stood and held her dress over her belly, "Look, I'm showing!" No father was present or reported.
From the front page of the newspaper to the lockers of high school. Abstinence is impossible and ignored. Illegitimacy is glorified. Religion and morality are ridiculed. Enlightenment makes moral judgment an activity of the feebleminded. "Where do teenagers get this stuff?" I have no idea.