The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1914-05-14
SEX HYGIENE
IN THE SCHOOLS
MISS FRENCH, OF ELK POINT
URGES EDUCATION ALONG
PROPER LINES

i II thC EAuCotlOIlo vi llitlJ q
considered at length before the South
Dakota Sunday School association on
Wednesday afternoon by Miss Kath-
ryn NJ French, of Elk Point, With the
subject, Our Adolscent Tom and
Mary"
Miss French's paper follows in
part:
The attention of the teacher in
one of high schools was attracted
not long since to a certain portion OF
the assembly room by one of the
boys who was shaking his desk so as
to produce Il peculiar noise. His gaze
was fixed pom the face of a school
mate-a pretty young girl. The young
girl raised her eyes with a furtive
gaze, her face crimsoned, a peculiar
expression and smile fitted owe her
co%untenance. Her smile was answer
ed by a similar one from the boy. 1t
was all over in an instant, but the
teacher in charge had seen a volume
in two expressions. There came to
her the conviction that the idle tales
which had been breathed over the
community concerning the little las
sic, must have at least, some founda-
She was convinced that "all wos
not we'll"
THE circumstances--O, just Tom
and Mary: YOUR Tom and YOUR
Mary!
For many years we have had
standards of perfection by which we
grade our stock-the CATTLE, horses,
sheep, and pigs. We know to an abso-
I,,tn nnrtoinfy Nphnn n narfnrt animal
is produced. We have studied the bal
ance food ration, the exercise, the
care, the housing, of the animal, so
that this perfection might be passed
on and thus a whole family of fine
animals of the same type might be
produced. This has been reduced to. a
science, and so thoroughly have we
mastered animal reproduction h a at
will we produce a horse for speed or
traction work, a COW for beef or milk
and a hen for food or eggs.
Were we to attend a mothers con
gress, we would hear much of the
Better Babies movement. Food,
clothing, environment, temperament,
would be much discussed. Babies
would be measured, weighed, judged
in much the same way as we are
Judging stock. If babies are not meet
ing the standard of perfection, the
way is pointed out whereby defects
may be remedied as far as possible.
"Why is this? Because we have
awakened to the situation that we are
not producing a race Of healthy indi-
viduals in every sense of the word
At present we are living in an age
too much given to selection of the
lfew--the survival of the fittest. Such
conditions only point to ruin as a
nation.
but while we are dealing with the
Better Babies movement, which is
one of the fittest movements of mod
ern times, there is another class oil
children, not receiving the attention
the sympathy, justly due them. Some
one has called the adolescent Marys
and Toms, the awkward squad Re-
member, the perpetuity of the nation
today lies in the awkward squad
ut is at about the sixth grade in
school that the reasoning faculties
of the child first begin to assert then
selves. Up to this time instinct ant
love of imitation have been the guild
ling principles of his life. 1t is from
the sixth to the eighth grades thai
the adolescent period of the child's
life begins.
1T is during this period that the
angel wings of your Tom and Mar,
get all black aud sooty. 1t is during
period of his high school career. thai
the parent, the teacher, and even the
child himself does not know what tt
do with him.
1.-The bodily changes which come
to the boy or girl from the age o.
eleven to twelve to eighteen are
| great and rapid. The legs and arms
grow long; the hands and feet arr
too large even to put out of sight
Tom is embarrassed by his changing
voice and by the idea of his frs
visit to the BARRIERS. Mary's new dress
can scarcely be cut and made ere it is
too short. We credit these folks will
being small adults. 1t is not SO any.
more than a tadpole is a frog. BY
lchanging, by developing, they are
going to grow into men and. women
"ItSis Just at this time when the
child is wrestling with problems , Of
his own physical development thai
there comes over him a new era in his
individualism, a something indefin-
able. 1t came from whence he knew
not nor does he know where it leads
him. 1t is an ineXpressible longing
for something.
she gropes for an answe to his
desires. AS no one has eve told him
The would be thus, he decides that the
Feeling belongs strictly to himself. Nc
one else would understand it, SO he
hides all his new feeling, ambitions,
desires and feels ashamed to own
his m%anhood's first dream.
THE radical organic changes and
1.-THE development of the sex nature
begin almost simultaneously. At this
fttme the sex instinct presses strongly
from within for an expression OF its
inherent purposes and meanings.
loves first dream breaks out strong
land turbulent.
gAnd here it is that we abandon
the boy and girl, Just in possession
Fof new, untried faculties, letting them
find the value of the unknown guam
tity without an axiom or theorem to
aid them. Here are where aid and
direction are most needed to steer
the fragile bark into a safe haven of
manhood and. womanhood. But the
world simply says: You're the pilot;
here's the steering wheel, and after
l.sl