In a perfect world, all parents would take full responsibility to teach their children about sex and human sexuality. Unfortunately we do not live in a perfect world, and many of Utah's children do not learn enough from their families about sex and its possible consequences.

Therefore, as part of our public schools' health education curriculum, students should be taught about sex and its possible consequences in school. This should include education that stresses the benefits of abstaining from sex until students are mature enough and ready to handle the heavy responsibility that necessarily comes with the decision to engage in sex.

By educating students in the objective, scientific medium of our schools, we can ensure to the best of our ability that as many students as possible receive the best information possible. By contrast, leaving the responsibility up to parents alone means that inevitably some students will not receive the education they need to make healthy, informed decisions about sex.

Teaching sex education in our schools still leaves plenty of room for teaching the subject in the home. It simply means that students will receive a thorough introduction to sex ed in their classroom and will thus have at least the minimum amount of information they need to make the right decision - and allow parents to expand on the subject at home if they wish.