Thank you, Rob Schofield

One of my favorite political writers in North Carolina is Rob Schofield, who is a big cheese at one of my favorite think tanks in North Carolina, NC Policy Watch. Yesterday, Rob wrote a piece that should be required reading for anyone concerned about public education in general, and sex education in particular.

The catalyst for Rob's excellent work was a recent column by the N&O's resident Puppet, Rick Martinez. As I've written on many occasions, Martinez is a class-clown the newspaper apparently keeps around for cheap amusement. His wife is a staffer at the John Locke Foundation, and most of his stories trickle out in full alignment with "reports" issued by other minions at the Puppetshow.

I'm happy Rob wrote this piece because I've been struggling to write it myself for more than a week now. My wife is one of the nation's leading scholars on adolescent sexuality, and when fools like Martinez get involved in the debate, I have a hard time containing my anger. Fortunately, Schofield is more level-headed and circumspect. Please go read the whole article, and bookmark it for future reference. It's chock full of good data you should have at your fingertips. In the meantime, I can't resist sharing Rob's parting shot. It's a true work of art.

As one quick-witted observer noted a few years back when presented with the assertion by one of Martinez’ fellow ideologues that “sex education causes pregnancy”: “Right, and driver’s education causes accidents!”

In sum, if anyone has a poorly veiled agenda in the current debate over sex education, it’s not the sponsors and supporters of the proposed comprehensive sex ed legislation. Heaven help our children if Martinez and his fellow ideologues are going to be the arbiters of what our schools can and can’t teach them about the fundamental workings of the species to which they belong.

Bravo.

PS Here's an early attempt at creating a map of the Puppetshow. I'm working on a new one . . .