2004 third IL Senate Debate: on Education

Alan Keyes: Parents, not schools, should be responsible for sex ed

OBAMA: We have an existing law that mandates sex education in the schools and we want to make sure that it’s medically accurate & age appropriate. [Sex education] is in the law so schoolchildren can exercise some kind of protection against abuse.

KEYES: I think its perfectly appropriate for parents t talk to their children at these tender young ages in a way that reflects their faith and their values, as understood according to their moral identity and religious culture. And I think its dangerous to be touching these subjects at such tender ages in a school environment rather than leaving it to the parents. I believe in empowering parents with the right to choose the environment where their children will be educated rather than usurping their role with a bureaucratically dominated education system.

Barack Obama: Sex education needed to help children discuss molestation

OBAMA: Actually, that wasn’t what I had in mind. We have an existing law that mandates sex education in the schools and we want to make sure that it’s medically accurate and age appropriate. I have a 3 year old daughter and a six year old daughter and one of the things I talk about with my wife is the possibility of someone touching them inappropriately. And that’s why [sex education] is in the law. So they can exercise some kind of protection against abuse. As for filters, I have voted for them. In the school setting, there was information schoolchildren could not access such as information about breast cancer, which is why there was a broad opposition.