decot@cwruecmp.UUCP (Dave Decot) (01/28/84)
Steve Dyer fails to see any possible benefit to a patriarchal society for preventing early sexual relations. Proponents of this system want to have as much control over their children for as long as possible. This is desirable to some parents for a mixture of reasons, some of them very altruistic, others not so pure. The benefit of preventing blacks, women, children, gays, etc. from having power over their own lives and affecting others seems clear when you are a white, grownup, straight, man; i.e., "keep 'em in their place and I will have more control over the world." People want to affect the world as much as they can. I read an editorial in \The Washington Times/ (a daily newspaper heavily funded by the Unification Church and rather conservative in its slant) written by a woman who was outraged that teachers in the Brookline, MA, school system were exposing 7th and 8th graders to audio-visual material about nuclear war, the Nazi holocaust, and other complex issues, encouraging them to form their own opinions. From the examples she presented, it seemed that a point of the program was to illustrate some of the techniques used by propagandists and salespersons to manipulate the opinions and ideas of others. The woman's objections were that the students were too young to be exposed to such complicated, scary issues, and that the students were becoming politicized, indoctrinated, and defiant of authority. To illustrate her point, she quoted one of the participant students: "I always used to be so safe, I thought everything was easy. Now it's different. For the first time in my life, I've had to think." Heavens! Encouraging independent thought in school? That's got to stop! The quotation was recalled from my memory and is not exact. Its original source is a report on the described program produced by the Brookline school board. The author of the editorial was a resident of Delaware. I personally think this program is a good idea. This discussion is straying from the spirit of net.motss, and should be moved to net.politics, net.kids, net.women, or elsewhere. DISCLAIMER: This article should not be construed as support for the principles of NAMBLA, nor should it indicate advocacy of anarchistic parenting. I am still forming opinions on the matter of voting/sex/choice rights for children. I am no longer a subscriber to \The Washington Times/. Dave Decot decvax!cwruecmp!decot (Decot.Case@rand-relay)