Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1913-09-26
Sex Education

70 what extent can sex instruction be given in
the public schools? Wide difference of opinion still
exists among school men on the subject, judging from
reports received at the United States Bureau of Edu-
cation. There is widespread recognition of what
President Foster, of Reed college, calls "The Social
Emergency" and general agreement as to the need
of action against the social evil, but when it comes
to the question of what part the public school shall
play, the ideas range from a detailed plan OF sex
instruction beginning in the elementary schools 10
a determined opposition to any form of sex education
whatsoever.
Professor Thomas NJ. Ballet, of New York univer-
sity, outlines several points of attack in sex educa-
ton. He believes sex instruction can now be given
to the following groups: % To parents, by means
of lectures; GU to enlisted men in the army and
navy, where the need for it is urgent; (3) to college
students, both men and women; ca to young people
in Y. NJ. G. AS and similar associations. DR.. Ballet
considers sex instruction to college students particu-
larly valuable; because it will enable them to impart
sex knowledge in turn to pupils in elementary and
secondary schools, as soon as the public is prepared
for this step.
Recently medical men have joined hands with
school men in the sex hygiene movement. DR.. Hugh
Cabot, a distinguished physician Of Boston, is one OF
the leaders in the demand for sex instruction in the
schools. He declares that the policy Of silence and
punishment as practiced in the past has failed. He
+" suggests educatiCn, rainier than punishment, as a
remedy for social evils. He says: Sooner or later
we shall come to realize that teaching the conpre-
hension of the sex instinct is the function Of the
public school, though we are far from such a realiza-
ton today" Other members of the American Fed.
Grafton of Sex Hygiene, including former President
Eliot, Of Harvard, who is the head of the organization,
hold equally positive views of the need for sex in
struction. 4
On the other hand, there are many, both among
educators and physicians, who see danger in sex in
struction in the schools. DR.. 1ierney, president OF
Woodstock college, Maryland; expresses the fear that
is in the minds of many thinkers, when he says:
Sex instruction is apt to put forward by some years
the time of suggestion and temptation. Safety lies
in diverting the attention from sex details"
Officials of the Bureau of Education believe that
the sex hygiene question is about to assume great
Importance in many school systems. Chicago is now
struggling with the problem; the board of education
has appropriated money to provide lectures on sex
hygiene to parents and to groups of high school
pupils, with the ultimate idea of extending sex in
struction to the elementary schools if the experiment
with older pupils proves satisfactory. Teachers in
New York and other cities report considerable sue
cess in incorporating sex instruction into elementary
work in biology. State Superintendent Hyatt, OF Cal
ifornia, has issued a leahet on sex instruction that
has been considered worthy of distribution by the
United States government, while the American Fed
Grafton Of Sex Hygiene, carrying out its plan of con-
structive work against the social evil, has drawn up
what is probably the most careful outline yet de-
school and at home.