Is Early Sex Education Encouraging Children to Have Sex?

Lost in Translation [Mark Steyn]

Yesterday I wrote about Britain's pint-sized pop of the week, Alfie Patten, the four-foot middle-schooler about to undergo a paternity test. A reader adds:

Besides “financially,” the other word that stood out in that story was “despite.” As in:

Britain has the highest underage pregnancy rate in western Europe, despite channelling substantial resources into sex education for children as young as five.

On this side of the pond we would say “because of” or “due to;” perhaps you could explain this alternate British meaning of “despite” to your American readers?

Yes, note that, even though Judith Woods is using Alfie as the emblem of what she calls a "broken Britain", her language betrays a lot of the same assumptions as the toxic nanny state.

02/17 10:25 AM