Where do we get our morals and values? Character education was what took place in school and society in the past. It was sometimes heavy-handed and always liable to abuse, but it seemed to serve our culture well over a long period of time. But what we have now, for the most part, is the "decision-making approach" (Kilpatrick, 16). In one form or another, sometimes as a course in itself, s

We live in a sexual world, but Americans have been slow to fully acknowledge its enormous impact. Among those interviewed in the Janus Report who were 18 to 26 years old, 21% of the men and 15% of the women had had sexual intercourse by age 14; a small percentage of them had had their first intercourse before age 10. "It ought to be the oldest things that are taught to the youngest people," said G. K. Chesterton in 1910. If that guarded approach applies anywhere, moral education would seem to be the place. "The Day America Told the Truth," a 1990 survey of American beliefs and values, contains this scene from a California high school: "It's Friday afternoon and the students are leaving a class in 'social living.' The teacher's parting words are, 'have a great weekend. Be safe. Buckle up. Just say 'No'... and if you can't say 'No,' then use a condom! (Kilpatrick, 53) Although the teacher in this example gives a nod in the direction of abstinence, her approach is basically of the "responsible sex" variety.

Unfortunately, until recently, teachers have been reluctant to discuss sex in absolute moral terms, leaving students with the impression that it's purely as subjective matter. It turns out that when teens are confronted by adults over sexual misbehaviors, a frequent response is simply, "I didn't know it was wrong." We are all, to a great extent, creatures of our culture. By and large, we tend to conform to cultural expectations, even if not perfectly. Our present culture sends out confused and misleading messages about sex-messages that, in the long run, threaten our survival. But it's not inevitable that we remain in this state. As William Bennett observed at the time he was secretary of education, "I have never had a parent tell me that he or she would be offended boy a teacher telling a class that it is better to postpone sex. Or that marriage is the best setting for sex, and in which to have and raise children. On the contrary, my impression is that the overwhelming majority of parents would gratefully welcome help in transmitting such values." (Kilpatrick, 76)

The long history of sexually transmitted diseases has made caution in sex one of the facts of life. In the late 1980s, the AIDS epidemic made caution in sex a fact of life or death. It was no longer a moral issue. When AIDS surfaced as a national problem , the sexually active momentarily panicked. The enormous tensions and backlash generated by these devastating sexually transmitted diseases made practice of casual sex pause. "The new social and sexual changes in lifestyles have been adopted by many other participants. Divorced or separated men and women, newly single, are dating again and searching for sex partners and new love. Parents in their 40's and 50's and 60's are enjoying a new sexual style at

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1897
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)