American schools are full of filth, and as a Christian, I wrestle internally about how to respond to it. On the one hand, I want to awaken mature adults, and especially parents, to reality by showing them the kind of content that passes for educational material these days. On the other hand, some of the content is so vile that I don’t want to subject myself to it, let alone put it before others.

In the past week alone, I have had to weigh those options twice — first with the news that the nation’s “safe schools” leader, Kevin Jennings, has a history of endorsing sexually explicit books and second with reports of naked teachers in New York.

Others have struggled, too. The Washington Times published an editorial this week about what I’ll call the Gay Sex 101 curriculum taught in graphic detail at an event organized by the group Jennings once led, but the paper included a strong warning:

This editorial includes discussion of topics that are sexually graphic. Under usual circumstances, we would never entertain these subjects or the rancid language involved. In this case, however, a very unusual exception must be made because the issues are central to the background of a senior presidential appointee at the U.S. Department of Education who is in a position to influence how and what our children are taught in our nation’s schools.

Thus far, out of fear or squeamishness, there has been public hesitance to examine closely the beliefs of this individual because many are afraid even to touch the risky content. Our scruples cannot be used against us when traditional moral precepts need to be defended. Simply, the deep level of depravity involved in this subject cannot be portrayed without providing a couple of examples to illustrate the inappropriate content.

Please do not read any further if you will be offended by sexually graphic language.

And today, my blogger friend Ed Morrissey of Hot Air explained why he is only now writing about the Jennings controversy: “To be honest, the story is so shocking that I haven’t quite grasped how to approach it.”

Later, he embedded a racy Monty Python episode that spoofed sex education to make a point. “The hilarity of this skit relies on the ridiculous notion that anyone would ever dream of doing something this inappropriate in a school,” he said. “Unfortunately, in this case, life has trumped satire — and now we call it the Obama administration.”

Like Ed and the Times, I ultimately decided to mention the Jennings story and the news out of one New York school because I am truly appalled by the cesspools that we have let American schools become. I chose not to publish any of the explicit text or graphics available on other sites and included warnings about following links to them, but I felt compelled to say something.

It’s bad enough that educators long ago stopped teaching and enforcing basic morals, but now they seem determined to teach and tolerate immorality in the extreme. Sadly, too many adults don’t know, or don’t want to believe, how bad it has become.

Seeing the filth may not make them believers or outrage them to the point that they start demanding change and holding schools accountable. But they can’t fairly plead ignorance now.

As for Jennings, he should be fired post-haste.