What the Globe story, in its accent on the horrifyingly negative statistics, failed to mention was that the report showed clearly why kids who don't use drugs decline to smoke a joint when it's offered. They knew that men have bad, selfish, and destructive appetites which must be restrained and that civilization is a precarious thing. Having sensed that many parents have abdicated their role as teacher and example for their own children, our schools are giving it a go. The D.A.R.E. program continues despite study after study that has proven it utterly ineffective in keeping kids from experimenting with drugs. And, echoing the confused thinking of many of today's parents regarding drugs, there is the condom distribution program at the high school.
Drugs are everywhere and that's hard.
But with sex, well, we can fudge on that one, giving an equivocal abstinence message on one hand while handing out condoms with the other. Rabbi Daniel Lapin has put his finger on the real problem we face. The answers are simple if we have the courage to face them. Parents need to be parents. Children must be taught by example what is right and wrong.