Joycelyn Elders interviewed by Priscilla Pardini

About the author: Joycelyn Elders is the former surgeon general of the United States. She was forced to resign in December 1994 after commenting that children should be taught about masturbation in schools. Elders is on the staff at Children's Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas, and on the faculty at the School of Medicine at the University of Arkansas. She is also working on a book, The Dreaded M Word. Elders was interviewed by Priscilla Pardini, a freelance writer, for Rethinking Schools, a periodical that discusses education issues.

Teens should be taught a comprehensive sex education program that gives them all the facts they need to know about preventing pregnancy and disease. Although parents should ideally be the ones to teach their children about sex, many adults are unable...