Letter: The thing about reading and history

Last week I got to listen to couple of men emotionally explain to the TSD 9 Board of Directors why girls shouldn’t have to hear what some men have done to women over generations. I also listened to a mother explain why it was so important, based on her family’s history, that the story be told, so that girls have the tools to resist. At the end of the conversation, all of the men on the school board agreed to deny the story, in opposition to their fellow woman board member who endorsed age appropriate teaching.

Five years ago we experienced hysteria in school board meetings over a new highly communicable virus, which quickly developed into a worldwide pandemic. Community members cited misinformation on causes and cures taken from the internet, and even denied its very existence in the face of millions of deaths.

Forty years ago our school district heard from another group who claimed we mustn’t tell our children about the dangers of the Human Immunovirus (HIV) because we were actually naming body parts. An option was available for a parent to request their child be removed from that particular age-appropriate health lesson (so the parent could explain contact with blood/body fluid-borne pathogens at home.) Even so, a devoutly concerned father told me no children should hear about the virus, even if their parents could not explain it. He informed me that he did not care about anyone else’s children.

The thing about human beings is that, without knowledge gained through education and life experience, we tend to repeat our mistakes. Education comes in many forms, starting in the home, and in places of worship, in school, in your doctor’s office, in your work place. I believe that knowledge enables us to understand our world and make sound decisions. None of us needs to be protected from truth.

Laurie Lamb

Tillamook