Evening star., 1939-01-10
Telling Child
The Facts
OF Life
No Special Age
At Which They
Are Learned
By ANGELO PATRI.

Sex is not secret Nature never
thinks of it as something to hide.
In her realm it is joyous, everyday
matter to be taken as casually as
one regards the sunshine and the
rain. Only among human beings
is sex something to consider rever-
emily, cautiously, guardedly. 1t cam
not be otherwise, for the creation
Of another human being is of the
utmost Importance to all nature, to
all humanity, to society with all its
complicated adjustments made nee
essary by custom, law and religion.
These safeguards have been accept
ed so long that their recognition Is
summed up in society's term, COM
mon sense"
For long years sex in relation to
human beings was covered with a
veil and spoken of in whispers if
mentioned at all The conspiracy
of silence did not work. Nature is
stronger than convention and the
truth showed its face. often discon-
certing the elders. OF late we have
begun to speak out loud, to acknowl-
edge the presence of great force
of life among us We have about
decided that it is useless and fool
ish to try to keep youth from dis
covering something they know by
intuition and instinct. We have
about decided that it is better to
teach youth about this force than
to keep its implication, its conse-
quences and its power over them,
secret.
The discussion centers now on how
this shall be taught. BY whom?
Where? When? There are some
who would have sex in relation to
human beings taught in the junior
high schools. I am going on record
now as against that practice. There
are many reasons, all Of them, to my
mind. practical. First, children ma
ture physically and mentally at diff
ferent times. The physical growth
and the mental growth of one child
do not arrive simultaneously. One
or the other lags. Age then is no
measure of judgment as to the
proper time. No two children will
accept the idea in the same way.
Their personal attitudes set by home,
playground and education will not
allow that. For one child the les
son will be wholesome. for another
the contrary. So classification in
schools will not help us.
Sex Is no secret. Every child at
the age Of IL knows something of its
ways and its meanings. Every one
of them has felt something of its
urge, has had some experience with
its influences. But the individual
child feels, intuitively, instinctively,
sex at work within him, and each
must express it, must approach its
growth, must interpret its use and
its meaning according to his needs
and temperament. Sex is an indi-
vidual matter if ever there was
such. Then class instruction is not
the answer.
We have physiology lessons,
science lessons, biology, in the
oSAAoO1S. CdSlI VI VllcSc I1luSU anu
does touch sex in a general way
That is about all teacher before
class, especially the mixed classes
OF the public schools, can do with
safety.
How then are the children to learn
about this all-important matter?
None OF us denies the gravity of the
question before us. The children's
Intuition and instinct and casual
experiences must be clarified by
teaching. would make 1t easy
for children to ask their mothers
and fathers, their religious teachers,
and a teacher who has been trained
for this specific Job, in the schools.
General instruction will not help
much and 1t is likely to do harm.
Individual instruction, as needed,
will solve our difficulty. This is the
hardest way, Of course, but there is
no royal road to learning.