Can teachers be trusted to teach about sex and relationships?
by Joe Baron, Spectator:
[…] Apart from a perfunctory nod to ‘some’ Christians sharing the reservations of ‘some’ Muslims, there was little exploration of wider societal concerns about children being given these books. Neither was there an adequate discussion of the benefits and downsides of the school’s methods which are now being replicated in similar programmes in primary schools across the country.
This, in my view, is a mistake. First, of course we need to discuss and explore the possible implications and consequences of making pupils read books about cross-dressers, same-sex relationships and gay marriage. These are our children, after all. Secondly, we shouldn’t be dragged into viewing this dispute through the prism of progressive secularism versus reactionary religious conservatism. It is much more complicated than that. Many who consider themselves to be progressive secularists, for example, share the concerns of their more traditionally minded religious friends and neighbours.
Like many progressive secularists and conservative Muslims, Christians and Jews, and as a teacher of 15 years, I’m deeply concerned about schools exposing children to books about same-sex relationships and transgender peers without, at the very least, shedding some light on the possible implications.
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