Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1944-05-10
BEHIND
The NEWS
-ByPaul
IS MaIIon

WASHINGTON, May 10-An
w apparently unmarried lady
principal of a junior high school
rises right up in the April
magazine Of her teachers asso-
citation and demands point
blank,
"Where do we stand?" on
sex.
She makes clear where she
stands. as follows:
I'VE I'm school can no longer
ignore our responsibility for
cushionlng the shock (of seX)
with information; for curing the
pre-occupatlOn by satisfying
curiosity with knowledge; for
tightening the load of fear,
worry, guilt and shame that so
many children carry; for pre-
senting. the beauty of life from
which comes the literature,
poetry, art and music fof rO-
mantle love :"
"NOr can we fail 10 supply
mother substitutes In whom
children can cOnfide. Adde'S
cents face certain development
tasks with which they need
help. Then II ever, they must
wage the battle of gradual
emancipation from parents" Cat
junior high school age).
NOW here is a well-meaning
~ lady who unwittingly dem
onstrates her own incapacity 10
teach the most difficult subject
of all human behavior. Her
thoroughly nice idea, l assume,
is 10 raise the conceptions of
sex to higher plane
In short, she would teach TO
mantle love" under the title Of
social hygiene. Would this cure
juvenile delinquency or mitigate
il or make the children any diff
ferent?
Inasmuch as this subject now
seems 10 have entered school
curricula rather generally, it
can hardly be termed taboo for
common sense discussion. All
the children whom Miss WhosiS
wants 10 teach her own higher
appreciation OF romance, col
lecting their sex secrets as
mother substitute and aiding
their emancipation from their
parents-all of them have par
entS who also have their own
ideas OF romance, sex, mothers
and emancipation.
SEX is the most personal prob
~ lem of human existence. No
two people will have precisely
the same ideas about il. Atti-
tudes vary as much as individ-
ual personalities. Mothers who
have any interest in their chill
dren at all will insist on raising
their children with their-owu
personal notions on these sub
jects at least.
| doubt if they will stand for
Miss Whosis and any one in
school teaching ideas az vari-
ance with their own. know I
would not let her teach my
child after reading her article.
which leads me 10 believe she
is not competent on this SUBJ
jeCt.
Who is competent? Some
people say a psychiatrist or a
physician. Yet it is evident
tn cir attitudes also differ
widely, range the whole course
from radicalism 10 conserva-
tism, from Freudism to Puri-
tanism. To have them teach
sex in the schools would be as
unsatisfactory as having the
preachers of all religions try
10 teach their individual relig-
ions in the schools.
THlS movement is part Of the
4 whole false philosophy that
has seeped into the very blood
OF this nation in recent years to
bring us such problems as juve-
nile delinquency. declines in
discipline and scholarship-the
philosophy of free expression.
self-indulgence as being good
for the individual.
The realities of life are not
in accord with that philosophy.
The laws of nature and of the
land work on a contrary prin-
ciple, the Christian principle of
restraint and discipline. Some
OF the movie stars who recently
have been in the courts can
testify TO that.
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