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Show Let parents decide if children should take survey I he survey to become sexually active. As a result several straw men issues have bee to oppose the survey, but none of UH critics u! rillSwl dressed the real issue --parental consent. ' 'U'1' Ul1' The same people who would burn all the conies survey maintain that sex education in this st'ue l lhl' be done in the home by parents who can teach m ?' in the process of teaching about the facts or life ly In requiring parental consent before a stiidem participate in the survey, the governor's I-kL- r abides by this philosophy. ' l,SK lor What more could the critics ask'? Don't thev those parents to make decision, or are they afr-iid H will make a decision with which they do not agree? If parents are truly responsible for teachinii tho-children tho-children the facts of life, they are responsible enLh in determine whether or not they want their children take the survey. 10 This is not a responsibly we should hand over to the small but vocal minority who would determine for ill parents how this most delicate subject is to be an proached. 'p" The question over the controversial survey is not content, but parental consent, and it's hard to see how the critics of the survey can take issue with that. The Alpine School District has taken a reasonable approach - let the parents decide if (heir children should take the task force's survey, rather than give that decision to someone else. . I ,,nce the- names are provided, the ask 01 u U (nta(, tlle parents of the randomly selected stud n s ! permission for their son or daughter to participate in the survey. The task force will conduct the survey aim school but using school facilities. The survev questions use straight forward lanffW that should be familiar to any of the 10th. 11th or 2th graders asked to participate. No high school student is going to learn anything new from this survey. After obtaining background information about ne students, the survey asks about dating habits the degree of parental interest in dating, and attitudes about sexual intercourse before marriage. The survey asks if the participant knows what contraceptives con-traceptives do. but it doesn't give any answers. It asks H the participant has ever has sexual intercourse, and in the cases where the answer is yes. the survey goes on to ask how they felt about it, why they participated and what thev understood about it at the time. Once completed, the survey should give the Task Force a handle on how local teenagers feel about themselves and their sexuality -and it should help identify which types of teens are most likely to become sexualiy active before marriage. And it does so without resorting to vulgar language, explicit descriptions or descriptive questions. Nevertheless, to listen to the questionnaire's critics, the survey reads like a pornographic magazine and is full of information that will encourage those who take Consent, not content, is the real issue behind the supposed "sex" survey which may take place at American Fork High School - and in that context, it's hard to see what all the shouting is about. In fact, the subject of the survey isn't sex as much as it is the problem of teen-age pregnancy. But the cause and effect relationship of the two have linked the survey with sex education - prompting the survey to become a rallying point for a small but vocal group which opposes any sex education outside the home. The survey is the brain child of the Governor's Task Force on Teenage Pregnancy Prevention, a group which has been asked to find out why so many of Utah's teen-age population becomes pregnant, how the situation affects the state, and what can be done to correct the problems early unwed pregnancy causes our society. Hut those who oppose the survey see it as a thrust by liberals to extend high school sex education courses to include teaching about contraceptives and even homosexual lifestyles. And they have been vocal enough in their opposition to encourage several school boards to vote down conducting con-ducting the survey in their school district. The Alpine District is one of 19 selected by the task force to take part in the survey, and the district has been asked to supply the names of 120 students at American Fork High School as possible survey participants. |