Mass. elementary school district will provide first graders with condoms! Not a joke!

[BillyMc]

<p>

The article is somewhat sensationalist, as one might imagine. I gather they actually approved a condom distribution policy without an age limit. The news article then - to make it sound more “oh my!!” - inserted the idea that a 1st grader could get a condom. I get the Boston Herald, the paper which took the most extreme position - as in “what’s next? Birth control pills?” The actual decision says nothing about 1st graders or 2nd graders, etc. They decided they wanted to make sure that if a kid wanted to, that the school nurse would talk to that kid - in private - and that a condom would be provided if that conversation led to that. In other words, if a kid is active sexually, then this is designed to stop pregnancies and disease.</p>

<p>As for why, Provincetown has changed dramatically from all gay/lesbian to richer but still liberal. That’s their view of life. Other places are more conservative. In other words, this was a purely local decision made in accordance with local values that has nothing to do with 1st graders.

This is a very logical and very well articulated analysis of the situation. </p>

<p>However, I still choose to believe that we are now living in a… Brave New World.</p>