A few weeks ago I quoted a wise old head who was bold enough to write in his sex and drugs education policy: “We expect, when we teach science, for it to develop an interest in the children. We want them to go out, to find out more, to experiment. The more we teach them, the more they want them to be interested. So we say less about sex and drugs rather than more.’
Earlier this week, The Daily Telegraph reported that “the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs [ACMD] warned ministers that many popular prevention techniques are ineffective at changing behaviour’ and ‘may even increase the risks of drug use’.”
“The advice – from the Government’s own experts – means the very foundations of anti-drugs teaching for generations could be pointless at best and actively harming children by encouraging drug use at worst.”
Can we now be bold enough, perhaps even wise enough, to say exactly the same about sex education? By talking too much about sex education in schools we are encouraging children along a path that is not in their best interests.