The following questionnaire was given to Grade 10 students at Notre Dame High School in Welland, Ontario. On December 10, 1990, the school nurse first explained various contraceptive devices.
She then invited the children to come up and inspect them and learn how they are to be used.
The children were told that some time later, in the year someone would come in to explain the “Catholic” point of view. In the meantime, they were asked to complete this quiz.
Birth Control Class – A Quiz
1. Is it possible to become pregnant the first time a girl has intercourse – true.
2. If a male pulls out in time, there is little chance of pregnancy – False.
3. The male does not really have to be concerned about birth control – False.
4. If a boy under 15 has sex, he will not make the girl pregnant – False.
5. A girl always knows the safe time of her monthly cycle – False.
6. Sperm can live up to 5 days in the woman’s body – True.
7. Saran wrap is a handy alternative to the condom – False.
8. A girl should never use her friends’ birth control pills – True.
9. The best way to be prepared is always keep a supply of condoms in your wallet or the glove box of your car – False.
10. It is important that the girl take the pill at the same time everyday – True.
11. When using a condom you should always leave a space at the tip for semen – True.
12. If a girl stops the pill, she cannot get pregnant for 3 months – False.
13. Condoms and foam are the only birth control methods that will help to prevent sexually transmitted diseases – True.
14. Young couples find it very easy to talk about what methods of birth control they are going to use – False.
15. Birth control services are free and confidential at the Birth Control Centre – True.
The quiz is the kind of materials to which a number of parents object to and have been objecting to for years. Once sex education is introduced, they say, it quickly regresses to acceptance of amorality. (See story, “Sex education is anti-education, author says”) in this issue.
Public Health Nurses
Needless to say, if some parents in public schools object to this kind of materials, how much more so will parents of children in Catholic schools.
This incident accents the objection Catholic parents across Canada have to the employment of public health nurses in separate schools.
A further illustration of the anti-life sentiments of the public health nurse at Notre Dame High School, for example, are her remarks to the students that there are three options in pregnancy: abortion, adoption or keeping the child.
But the difficulties with Catholic school boards employing public health nurses goes beyond the personal anti-life stand of an individual nurse.
Some public health nurses apparently care little about giving Catholic teaching on sexuality in Catholic schools. Public health nurses have been told that they must set aside their personal views if these go contrary to the current approval of contraceptives, sterilization and abortion. In other words, they are required, and, indeed, have been trained, to promote the immoral anti-family, anti-life philosophy of the Planned Parenthood movement.
The Interim is interested in receiving further information about sex education in the schools – public, separate or independent.
In the February issue, The Interim will carry a number of sex-ed related stories, including one on a ‘sex education’ conference held in Guelph, Ontario in June 1990.
