12 year olds get the Pill
Martin Clarke
118 East Street
Sittingbourne
Dear Editor
I left school in 1965 at the age of 15 and 3 months, I like the rest of the pupils were given the very basics of Human Reproduction (sex lessons) when we were in the 4th year (last year at senior school). Our Headmaster gave us a lecture on our last day that sex was for people who were married. If you did get a girl pregnant (which brought shame on all the family) you were duty bound to marry her and provide for the children. At that time I knew of only girl who got pregnant under the age of 16 she actually had the child when she was 16 and married the father at 16 they both are still together today. Most of my friends and myself were married and had children by the time we were 21. Most are still married to the same person.
Sometime in the late sixties some enlightened modernises decided that my experience with sex education at school was a disgrace. It was decided that with the Pill and condoms readily available society should take a much adult and modern approach to sex. The public were told that youngster must be given more education on contraception to stop these pregnancies where young people had to get married. If a man took a girl out it was considered bad form to talk about what had happened when you went out and if a girl slept around she was referred to as a slapper because girls were expected to say NO.
So 36 years on we now have children as young as six learning how to put a condom on a banana, girls as young as 12 given the morning after pill, young people being told to experiment with their sexuality, to say NO is not only not cool but can be educationally harmful. There are many single young mothers under the age of 16. A baby seems to be a fashion statement and if you are lucky you can have children by several fathers because young men are not expected to be responsible any more. Some Human rights campaigners believe we should be allowed sex as soon as we reach puberty. There is no such thing as shame only excuses. Of course all these enlightened modernises now tell us its societies fault and these youngsters are victims OR is it that their experiment failed and we pay the cost for their failure.
Mind you society learns by its mistakes so all was worthwhile as long as we have learned. Wait a minute do I see another experiment YES lets legalise POT and other soft drugs, bring the age of consent for alcohol. Lets be more adult about our attitude to them our education system with regard to these subjects is a disgrace. NOW WHERE HAVE I HEARD THAT BEFORE?
Martin Clarke