I heard my picture was in the Arizona Daily Star on Sunday. Brimming with curiosity, I picked up a copy. Flipping to the Metro/Region section, I found a picture of myself and eight other Chain Gang members hanging out the windows of the Magic Bus. Our entry in the Homecoming parade was caught in full-color splendor as we trundled along on Saturday. I was disturbed, though, when I looked higher on the page.

The top story involved a possible scholarship donor to the UA. Her name is Sally Keith and she wants to establish the Sally Keith Scholarship with $250,000 of her own money. The scholarship would aid Native American women who live in Arizona by paying for four years at the university. I applaud this spunky 90-year-old for her efforts to help a group in need. I am dismayed, however, by one of the other limits she places on the applicants.

The proposed text of the scholarship reads, "Preference will be given to a girl who has been able to say 'no' to sex," a girl who is focused on her future. Apparently, Keith wants to make sure that none of the undesirables slip through and defame the good name of the scholarship by acting inappropriately. The university has refused the scholarship in its present form as it feels it attempts to dictate morality. Bravo.

This sort of morally rigid manure must be stopped dead in its tracks. This scholarship is another example of the evangelical-vice squeezing the life out of today's youth. It seems like everyone has forgotten what it's like to be young.

Kids will have sex. Kids will smoke pot. Kids will drink until they puke. This is what kids do, this is what kids have always done, and this is what kids will continue to do. If you want to get them to stop, too bad. Nothing anyone can do or say can possibly take away the very fiber of rebellious angst that drives kids to do what they do. That's all they have and that's all they know. Give the kids a break and let them have a little fun.

Some idiot prosecutor in Idaho wants to start enforcing an age-old law that forbids teen-age sex because he feels there are too many pregnant teens in his town. That's a pretty good idea - in the land of fluffy bunnies and lollipops. Unfortunately, this guy hasn't quite realized that teen-agers like to have sex and like it even better if they have to worry about getting caught. There's something special about danger that makes every action a little more fulfilling.

Of course, I could tell him how he could stop teen pregnancy, but he might not appreciate my point-of-view. I might tell him that condoms and birth control pills really work, but he'd just tell me I'm encouraging illicit behavior. I might tell him that a program of sex education combined with free birth control can at least protect against pregnancy and STDs, but he'd just tell me I'm encouraging illicit behavior.

Well, I am. I am the product of the public school system and my schools provided sex education classes for all of its students. These classes did not encourage us to have sex, they encouraged us to be smart if we chose to have sex. We were taught about the ramifications of our actions should we choose to hop in the sheets, and we were taught how to be careful. I'm still alive and I am not a parent.

There are a lot of kids out there and they are not stupid. They know that sex is fun, and they want to do it before they burst. What everyone else has to realize is that teen-age sex cannot be stopped. Get out of the way or you could be crushed by the charging rhino that is the teen-age libido.

To give everyone a clear idea of the typical teen-ager's thoughts on sex, I use the immortal words of George Michael: "Sex is natural, sex is good. Not everybody does it, but everybody should." Don't punish kids for being kids.

Jamie Kanter is a junior majoring in psychology and Spanish. His column, 'On the Flip Side,' appears every other Wednesday.

Jamie Kanter

---

Daily Wildcat News Opinions Sports PoliceBeat Comics