Sir, - I am a member of the RSE policy committee for a local primary school, and on Saturday last I spent some time working on a draft of our policy document. I took a break from this work to read The Irish Times, and found myself taken aback - and saddened - by the diatribe from Michael Tobin (March 20th).
I find his sweeping assertion that "there is no right way to give explicit sex education in a classroom setting" somewhat hard to take; it is certainly not proved by anything else in his letter. His use of emotive terms such as "sex-addicted culture", "contraceptive mentality" and "Godless programme" is insulting to the many people who are giving their time and effort to try to get this difficult matter right. I cannot speak for all RSE policy committees, but I can say that the committee of which I am a member is very conscious of the need to have a moral basis underlying what is taught in the RSE programme.
The guidelines for primary schools issued by the Department of Education explicitly state that RSE should be taught in accordance with each school's policies regarding the spiritual, moral and ethical development of children.
What really bothers me is the fear that parents who are concerned - as they should be - about RSE will accept the implicit suggestion that the RSE programme is bad and dangerous. I don't believe it is - and I feel that anyone who studies it will agree. What I would urge on parents - and what our policy committee will say to our parents when they are given our draft policy statement - is this: You should know about the RSE programme. It is too important to be left to other people. Read the literature - in particular, the parents' information booklet, Going Forward Together. If you want more information, read the guidelines and resource material produced by the Department of Education and available at your local school. Then judge it. - Yours, etc., Pat Lonergan,
Moorefield Park, Newbridge, Co Kildare.