(This article originally appeared as an opinion-editorial column in The Columbian,
a Vancouver, Washington daily newspaper, on February 7, 1995.)
Teen pregnancy, low self-esteem, sexually transmitted diseases, the HIV/AIDS epidemic, suicide, gun violence, bigotry, racism, alcohol and drug abuse, poverty, runaways, family difficulties, peer relationships; a litany of perils threatening adolescent youth are being addressed through "peer education" programs across the state of Washington.
Generally a combined effort of local health departments, public schools and advocacy organizations, peer education programs often take the form of off-campus get-togethers ("retreats") at which "trained" peer educators (selected students), make presentations to a gathering of students. From this group, candidates for additional peer educators are recruited and/or self-selected. These new peer educators then return to their individual schools where they plan projects and activities for their schools and/or communities.
While some peer education presentations also occur in school assemblies, and smaller more informal "teambuilding" gatherings are also a feature, the overall goal is for public school children to receive health and "decision-making" information from the people they are deemed most likely to listen to...their peers.
County or local peer education organizations typically identify themselves with acronyms such as TAPPP ("TeenAge Parenting Pregnancy and Prevention" in Grays Harbor County), APEX ("AIDS Peer Education Exchange" in Pierce County), CAPE ("Coalition for AIDS Peer Education" in King County), and REAL ("Reaching, Educating And Learning" in Clark County).
At a 1992 "APEX" presentation at Gig Harbor High School, student "experts" held a two hour assembly for the Senior class. According to "Faces," a newsletter of the Pierce County AIDS Foundation, "Peer educators were allowed to use whatever means necessary to get their message across (including some quite graphic language along with condom demonstrations!"). As with every peer education program WTV has investigated, care was taken to introduce APEX students to HIV infected persons who then participated in panel discussions.
In 1993 the TAPPP program in Grays Harbor County featured a weekend retreat for students from several school districts and included presentations by homosexuals who advocated their lifestyles as perfectly healthy and acceptable alternatives. Eyewitnesses saw students introduced to new concepts of sexual "abstinence" which propose oral sex, masturbation, mutual masturbation, and even anal intercourse (anything but the actual act of male-female sexual intercourse), as methods to "abstain" from sex. Materials made available at TAPPP retreats have offered pamphlets and phone numbers for so-called gay/lesbian "hotlines."
A similar 1994 off-campus "workshop" for middle school students from districts in Cowlitz County attempted (until intervention by supporters Washington for Traditional Values in the area), to forbid parents from attending. Longview School Board President Ken Botero stated that a planned dramatic presentation called "Secrets" was "Like sending them to a live sex show." Pressure from outraged parents resulted in Kelso, Longview, Castle Rock and Toutle school districts withdrawal of all support for the program. A much smaller workshop was held anyway.
In Clark County, a 1994 R.E.A.L. exhibition included a dramatic presentation for students in which a timid yet hopeful young girl was transformed by her flamboyantly swishy, male "fairy godmother" into a princess. Delighted to find herself dancing with the Prince at his ball, but flustered by his request to come to his room, she ran to ask her friends what to do. They recommended that she take a condom and return to the Prince. Back at the dance floor, she discovered the Prince dancing with another girl and making a similar invitation. Disgusted, the princess threw her condom at him and stalked away. The Prince's new partner happily scooped up the condom. She had her Prince, her condom and her plans for the evening.
R.E.A.L. presenters stressed that all materials were written by teens and stated that their goal was to perform for 4000 people in various school districts and initiate 3000 local one-on-one student contacts.
Fired Surgeon General Jocelyn Elders, the self-proclaimed "Condom Queen," felt that drugs should be legalized, that a driver's education approach ("What to do in the back seat") should be used in sex education, that children should be given a positive presentation of masturbation, that homosexuality and lesbianism were "wonderful" and "healthy," and was a strong supporter of peer education.
In the midst of the AIDS epidemic, and with school districts crying out for more money for "basic education," spending tax dollars so that minor children can educate and "counsel" other people's minor children on topics such as human sexuality, HIV/AIDS, and suicide is inappropriate and places impressionable children at risk.
Responsible adults in health departments and school districts should be teaching students that experimentation with hazardous lifestyles is wrong, and that avoiding sex until marriage is not only healthy, but is much more likely to produce positive self-esteem.
Robert R. Larimer, Jr.
State Executive Director
Washington for Traditional Values
E-Mail WTV: blairme@e-z.net
Return to: WTV ED OP-ED Pieces