Many pro-lifers have wondered how we can get our message into the schools. We reason that if we can impress upon the very young the importance and sanctity of each and every human life, then in ten years we would have educated an entire generation – a generation of pro-life young adults.
Maureen Anderson, a very active mother from Alberta, has taken up this challenge and found the key which opens the door to classrooms within the public school system. She disclosed the secrets of her success to a very attentive audience at the Winnipeg Conference on Saturday morning, July 6, 1991.
Maureen credits her success with the school boards in stressing that her program is strictly one which offers students an alternative view of life issues. She argues that, until now, students have only been offered a totally humanist, secular view. She, in turn, advocates that the students should be presented with both sides of the issue – that they should be given a real choice. A public school board can hardly argue with this rationale.
Equally responsible for acceptance of her program, Maureen assured her listeners, was the fact that it was totally life-affirmative, and not anti-abortion. She demonstrated some of the many visual aids she has prepared and told her audience that she has developed a guideline kit which other pro-life groups might find instructive. The 20 packages she brought were quickly snapped up, indicating that a few school boards are going to receive a visit. Whilst Maureen reminded those present that the program has so far only been developed for grades Kindergarten through 5, she and her co-workers are busy extending it so that eventually it will run continuously to Grade 12.
