Tolerance, Diversity in Newport-Mesa Schools

In this day and age when abortion, unwanted pregnancies, abandoned babies, AIDS and other social issues dominate the headlines, I find it hard to believe that groups such as CREATE are trying to block the schools from educating our children about these issues.

I do believe that abstinence is the best choice; however, this is not something that can be taught to a high school student for 50 minutes a day over the course of a semester. It should be learned at home over the course of a child’s adolescence. This is an elective class, and therefore, if a parent is not confident enough of the moral upbringing of their children they can withhold their permission to enroll in the class.

I was fortunate in that my parents had enough confidence in my upbringing that I was allowed to take “Marriage and Modern Life” (which has been renamed “Marriage and Family Life”). If the religious and political conservatives think that the junior or senior year of high school is the time for the school to start teaching a moral value such as abstinence, they are several years to late.

The value system that children grow up with is an ongoing process that parents should be responsible for, not the high schools. Let the teachers and the schools do what they are supposed to do, educate children, not teach them the values which should be taught at home.

JAMES B. NETZER

Newport Beach