Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1913-10-05
SEX EDUCATION


States Bureau of Education. There is
widespread recognition of what Pres
ident Foster of Reed College, calls
THE Social Emergency and general
agreement as to the need of acton
against the social evil, out when it
comes to the question of what part the
public school shall play, the ideas
range from detailed plan of sex in
struction beginning in the elementary
schools to a determined opposition u
any form of sex education whatso-
ever.
Professor Thomas NJ Ballet, Of
New York University, outlines several
points of attack in sex education. He
believes sex instruction can now be
given to the following groups: "a To
parents, by means of lectures; (2)
to enlisted men in the Army AMI
Navy, where the need for it is urgent.
90 to college students, both men and
women; a. to young people in Y. M.
C. AS and similar associations. DR..
Ballet considers sex instruction to
college students particularly valu-
able; because it will enable them to
impart 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, i
distinguished physician of Boston, is
one of the leaders in the demand for
sex instruction ir the schools. He de-
clares that the policy of silence and
punishment as practiced in the past
has failed. He suggests education,
rather than punishment, as a remedy
for social evils. He says: Sooner
or later we shall come to realize that
teaching the comprehension of the
sex instinct is the function of the
public school, though we are far from
such realization today" Other mem
bers of the American Federation OF
Sex Hygiene, including former Pres;-
dent Eliot, of Harvard, who is the
head of the organization, hold equal
ly positive views of the need for sex
instruction.
On the other hand, there are many,
both among educators and physicians,
who see danger in sex instruction in
the schools. DR.. Tierney, president of
Woodstock College, Maryland, ex-
presses the fear that is in the minds
K 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 strugglig with the problem; the
board of education has appropriated
money to provide lectures on sex hy
giene to parents and to groups OF
high-school pupils, with the ultimate
idea of extending sex instruction .
the elementary schools if the expert
ment with older pupils proves salts
factory. Teachers in New York and
other cities report considerable sue
cess in Incorporating sex instruction
into elementary work in biology. State
Superintendent Hyatt, of California,
has issued a leaflet on sex instruction
that has been considered worthy OF
distribution by the United States Gov
eminent; while the American Federl-
,ticn of Sex Hygiene, carrying out its
plan of constructive work against the
social evil, has drawn up what is
probably the most careful outline yet
devised for sex education at every
stage of life, both in schools and at
home.