Are they children of God or mindless animals?

There has been much controversy lately about middle schools in our country handing out birth control to their students, or considering doing it. Darren from RightOnTheLeftCoast (see blogroll) posted about it recently, and there was also a link on Drudge. Personally, I think giving birth control to middle school children - especially sans parental permission - is an absolutely horrible idea. As a teacher of middle schoolers, every day I watch this age-group make the absolute worst decisions one could ever contemplate. By and large, their emotional maturity has yet to even come close to catching up with their physical and cognitive capabilities. That is a dangerous combination of circumstances.

The common argument people make in order to defend the distribution of birth control to teens and preteens is that, "They are going to do it anyway, so we might as well make sure they are doing it safely." Horsesqueeze! How easily people forget that once upon a time, teen pregnancy was not nearly as ubiquitous as it is today. Young people fifty years ago had the same exact urges as the young people of today; human nature is human nature. The difference is that through parental, societal, and yes, religious pressure, the young people of yesteryear were much better able to delay gratification and not catch the diseases and early pregnancies that plague our youth of today. We must look at people - including our young people - as human beings blessed by God with the ability to know right from wrong, and to do the right thing. Animals don't have much, if any, concept of right and wrong. Animals just do whatever comes naturally, whether it is to kill and eat another animal, or copulate whenever the opportunity presents itself. When these do-gooder activists out there insist that teens and pre-teens cannot control their urges, that they are going to do the wrong thing no matter what we as a society say and do, then those activists are saying that our young people are nothing but wild animals with the morals of an alley cat. I think God made us better than that, and I refuse to sell people - and especially our young people - short. Again, I am not saying we don't have animal urges; of course we do! I am simply saying that we have been born with an ability to curb those urges. All it takes is the proper motivation. Unfortunately, the motivators of shame and disgrace have been removed in the last forty or fifty years, thereby making it more socially acceptable for teens and preteens to have sex. Now that is a shame and a disgrace.

This fits right into my position that I blogged about recently when I was talking about how microphones were offered up as the solution for teachers in Europe to be heard above their unruly students. Rather than present the students with the expectation that they will control themselves and not talk over the teacher, the chuckleheaded lefties of this world just dismiss these young people as simple animals who cannot control themselves, so therefore, modern technology must save the day.

Up to this point, this blog post has been all theory and philosophy. Just this week, I have seen the middle school sexual dynamic in action in a way I would rather forget. Yesterday, I confiscated a note from a male 8th grade student who was writing that instead of the in-class assignment he was supposed to be doing. I often privately read the notes I confiscate. I have found them to be an invaluable method of keeping my finger on the pulse of my school and my students. This note yesterday was a humdinger! In it, he was professing his love to his unnamed girlfriend, and he couldn't wait to see her after school at so-and-so's house (the parents must not be home yet at that time), and, oh yes, he was out of condoms, and he would pick up some more on the way to so-and-so's house. FOUL!!!

During my prep period, I called this boy's mother, and started off the conversation by saying, "This is a very uncomfortable phone call to make, but I would feel even more uncomfortable if I didn't make it...." And then I told her about the note and what it said. The mom asked me if the note mentioned the girlfriend's name. I told her it didn't, but after I read the note verbatim, the mom was able to figure out that it was the girlfriend the boy has had since last school year. The mom was horrified and told me that she was going to, "ride his butt when he gets home!"

Today during our department meeting, I mentioned this situation to my fellow social studies teachers. They knew the boy, and one of them had the girlfriend in his class last year. This teacher told me that a couple of times, he confiscated drawings she was making at her desk which showed a female form with a baby in her belly, and written above the drawing would be something like, "(Boyfriend) almost got me this month." This is when they were both 7th graders folks!

After hearing about middle schools handing out birth control, and after hearing about my story of the boyfriend/girlfriend at my middle school, I want you to ask yourself something: Did it make you feel any better that the 8th grade boyfriend was going to pick up condoms on the way to have sex with his 8th grade girlfriend? Or did you think that these two should live in a world where having sex at the age of 13 should simply not be an option whether they are using birth control or not? That world once existed, and I wish to God that it still did.

Good Day to You, Sir