Sir, - At the present time we are concerned about the "Rights of Children". However, it seems to be unfashionable to underline the right of children to a clear education in moral living. We are, at best, giving ambiguous standards such as "do what feels comfortable" and "make up your own mind". In RSE classes, teachers often seem to be unsure of how to deal with the moral issues. Parents are confused.
For example, society must tackle the complex moral issues raised by sex before marriage. To lose one's virginity has become a matter of peer pressure for teenagers, adding enormously to the anguish of the young person's life. Advising them merely to "use protectives" seems to be the response of adults who do not understand the total implications.
Looking at adults around them and in the media, young people note standards of infidelity and inability to make a serious commitment. The soft life results in unreadiness to cope with normal human pain. No-one seems to be ready to insist that objective moral standards be defined, explained and taught. Even churches are strangely silent in this sphere. Long ago sex was the unmentionable, now God is. - Yours, etc., Angela MacNamara,
Lr Kilmacud Road,
Dublin 14.