I would like to address an issue that has gained a significant amount of attention over the last several weeks: Scarborough School Department’s sexual education curriculum.

As a graduating senior from Cheverus High School, I participated in a month-long service project at Scarborough Middle School. Denise Lochman, one of the school’s health teachers, asked me to participate in her classroom. I was to address issues concerning dating and relationships in high school. As a result of my Catholic upbringing and Jesuit education, I share many of the same concerns that parents have voiced concerning the importance of an abstinence based sexual education curriculum; from first-hand experience, the Scarborough School Department teaches such a program.

As an advisor to the students in Ms. Lochman’s health classes, I was encouraged to share advice dealing with dating and relationships in high school. During each class, Ms. Lochman stressed the importance of maintaining one’s own beliefs concerning abstinence. She encouraged students to stand up for themselves when faced with situations in which their sexuality was involved. I was incredibly impressed by the manner in which Ms. Lochman expressed the value of remaining abstinent, especially when confronted by a group of young adults for whom sexuality has been broadcast across every media. To accuse Ms. Lochman and the Scarborough School Department of teaching a sexual education curriculum that does not stress the importance of abstinence is ignorant and uninformed.

Furthermore, some parents have expressed their apprehension concerning the teaching of contraceptive use. The position of the Catholic Church is very clear upon this particular matter, however one must also face reality. There are and will be students who, even in the eighth grade, will participate in sexual intercourse. It would be inhumane to deprive students of the knowledge that could save their lives should they choose to participate in sexual activities. Though the sexual education curriculum of the School Department focuses primarily upon teaching the value of abstinence, some students will not heed these impassioned warnings. To rob them, then, of knowledge that could prevent their own deaths is foolish.

For those parents who seem outraged that their children should participate in a course in which the use of contraceptives is taught, they should refer to the letter that was sent to each set of parents at the beginning of the year by Denise Lochman herself. In order to participate in the contraceptive portion of the curriculum, every student was required to have a parent sign a permission slip that outlined the foundation of the course. According to Ms. Lochman, only two of nearly 300 eighth grade students abstained from this portion of the class, only one of whom abstained on moral grounds. To claim that parents were deliberately kept in the dark by the School Department concerning the contraceptives course is a lie, no more and no less.

Certain parents have suggested a new curriculum be developed and taught by the Heritage of Maine Foundation, an organization created to teach abstinence based curriculum. Seniors at Cheverus High School this very year were required to participate in a sexual education program sponsored by Heritage of Maine. Despite the class taking place late in the fourth quarter of my senior year, I did notice a rather striking similarity between the Heritage of Maine curriculum and that of the Scarborough School Department. In each program, the fundamental message was the same: Abstinence is the only way one can secure emotionally, physically and mentally from the consequences that sexual activity involves. Unfortunately, we live in a world that is not perfect; young adults will choose to participate in sexual activity, despite being taught how dangerous it is. It is going on now, with students of surprisingly young ages, and to ignore that fact is criminal.

I have sat through the eighth-grade health classes, both as a student and as a facilitator and can honestly affirm that the sexual education curriculum the Scarborough School Department propagates is ABSTINENCE based. It does not ignore the brutal realities of our world, though, and addresses the use of contraceptives as an imperfect device, but one that can save lives. I am sympathetic toward those parents who are concerned about their children’s well-being when faced with making choices concerning their own sexuality. To ignore reality, though may cost the lives of children. The Scarborough School Department has wisely chosen to teach an abstinence-based sexual education program for years (since I was an eighth-grade student, lo those many years ago), but the curriculum also faces the objective reality that young adults will engage in sexual activity; to not arm them with the most powerful weapon of all, knowledge, is dangerous and irresponsible.

Michael Goudey

Cheverus High School ’05

Scarborough