Sex, rights and duties

The news that Ed Balls will force 15 year olds to have at least one year of mandatory sex education in schools has re-opened that old debate – who should provide children’s sex education? Personally, I doubt whether teachers or parents are better suited to the task, as both use either clinical candour, which children find hilarious, or a stream of inscrutable euphemisms. The wider debate reflects the fact that some teachers and parents advise effectively and others do not because it is invariably couched in terms of rights.
 
Under such criteria, there is no doubt who should take precedence: the state does not have the right to educate children about sex. Yet Ed Balls thinks he does. His motives are honourable, he wants to tackle teenage pregnancy, but that does not justify his outrageous imposition of mandatory punishments for those children who do not attend classes for mastering the art of putting a condom on a carrot.