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Pa ge 6 T hu rs da y, M ar ch 1 2, 2 01 5 - T he IF P - H al to n H ill s - w w w .th ei fp .c a The Independent & Free Press is published Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited. The Independent & Free Press is a member of the Ontario Press Coun- cil, which is an independent ethical organization established to deal with editorial concerns. For additional information or to file a complaint, contact info@ ontpress.com or call 416-340-1981. The Independent & Free Press Don't ostrich Letters to the editor 905-873-0301 Publisher: Dana Robbins General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: Chris Vernon (cvernon@metroland.com) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds/Real Estate Kristie Pells (realestate@theifp.ca) Classified Call Centre 1-855-415-8237 classified@theifp.ca Accounting 1-866-773-6575 Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Get the latest headlines delivered to your inbox by signing up for our twice weekly electronic newsletter. Go to www.theifp.ca and click on 'Newsletter sign-up' at the bottom of the homepage. Sex-ed must be a partnership with parents Letters must include the author's name, ad- dress and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/ or length. Publi- cation is not guaranteed. Email: cvernon@metroland.com Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 77, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Letters policy A surefire way to guarantee youngsters run into problems with sex is to keep them in the dark. Shut the controversial subject out of Ontario schools as long as possible. Have teachers deal with it as little as possi- ble. Rely on an outdated curriculum. Let kids learn the facts of life in the play- ground or by surfing the Internet. After all this, sit back and watch them strug- gle with unwanted pregnancy, sexually trans- mitted diseases, confusion over sexual identity, or having revealing photos of them shared in cyberspace. No caring parent or responsible adult wants to see any of this happen. Fair minds might not agree on exactly what needs to be done in the classroom, but all should accept that the subject of sex has to be taught effectively and to all ages. This is why an update of the province's sexu- al education curriculum is so welcome. Much has changed since the old curriculum was introduced 17 years ago. In 1998, there were no smartphones, nobody was "sexting," social-media platforms were in their infancy and same-sex marriage was ille- gal. Today, young lives are being ruined by inti- mate photos shared on social media. Today, young people wind up in court on sex- related charges because they don't understand what it means to give and receive consent. Today, the meaning of family includes homes with a father and a mother, a single parent, two fathers or two mothers. What's taught in the classroom must reflect this. Under the new curriculum, schools will begin providing necessary and age-appropriate information to children and teens. Some parents will be uncomfortable with these changes, but young people need to have information before they are faced with deci- sions regarding sexual activity. Education Minister Liz Sandals says the gov- ernment will stick with this new curriculum and not abandon it as it did five years ago. All parents should be grateful that the time has come. I would like to add my thoughts regarding the sex-education curric- ulum the province is proposing. I believe that the sex-education curriculum should be a shared part- nership between both the parents and the school system. The reason being that some par- ents won't say anything, some will discuss it but omit all the correct terms and make it so flowery or wrong that their kids will be more confused, or, if you're lucky, you have those parents that talk openly and honestly about every detail and question their kids have. Unfortunately, I came from the type of parents that didn't talk about it. Sex or anything related to it was looked upon as sinful and wrong. They didn't tell me anything. It was a very embarrassing sub- ject given that my family was reli- OPINION gious and didn't talk openly about this sort of thing. So, the "talk" never happened for me. Do I really want to learn about sex from parents who don't know the true facts or are too afraid to speak frankly to me? Do I want to trust the information they may provide to me when they tried to convince me that it was wrong to be curious about my body? So, I didn't get the sex talk at school and I certainly didn't get it at home so I was left to my own devic- es. I was just a kid but left to figure out very adult issues on my own. I wished someone talked to me. Being educated is not a bad thing. It creates knowledge, awareness and discussion. Perhaps this purposed sex educa- tion curriculum doesn't have to be such a taboo subject. Rather, it can be informative to save kids from abuse and teach them not to be ashamed of their bodies. It's gradual and age appropriate learning. That's the role the schools can provide to parents who are scared, unsure or uncomfortable to talk to their kids about this stuff. It starts the discussion. It creates awareness. What is so wrong with being informed anyway? Kids can't be completely shel- tered from the world around them. They are going to learn about the birds and the bees one way or another. So why not teach them the facts from the start? S. Coutts