SEX AND EUGENIC TEACHING.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 1069, 13 July 1912, Page 3

SEX AND EUGENIC TEACHING.

Dr Ramsay Smith, head of the South Australian Department of Health, giving evidence before the Education Commission at Adelaide, >aid in England the most impc aut step in education circles lately was the binding together ot the Education Department and the Health Department. In Prussia attention had been dev®ted to the education o: the inuiv.J.ual to fit him to be a better citizen ; but the central point —that of race culture —had been avoided. Recently, in America and Switzerland, Chairs had been established for what was known as Social Engineering, dealing with many problems ot national importance. The medical inspection of schools was only a means to an end. It meant much, but was by no means the most important step in the education system. Sex physiology touched one thing of the most vital importance to the human race. The whole subject was surrounded by a veil of lamentable ignorance. The present teaching on sex matters consisted in telling boys and girls what they must not do on pain of present disease, or hell-fire hereafter. It was an attempt to make children pure by making them prurient. It was like teaching parrots to be good by telling them what they must not say. He had read most publications on the matter, and he would be very sorry to see them in the hands of any boy or girl of his. The matter must be taken up by properly qualified persons, and treated in a proper manner. Unfortunately, it was a branch of study sadly neglected. The study of the normal human man formed no part in the medical curriculum. An average teacher of infants almost invariably knew more about the mind of a healthy child than a registered doctor. The tunctions of sex, organs, skin, as far as the mental and moral aspect was .concerned, were nearly always ignored in the best physiological text-books. Only when the subject of insanity cropped up could any reference be found to them, and theu perversions were dealt with, and not abnormal conditions. The average medical man was worse off in the knowledge ot sex physiology than the ordinary layman, because, having been taught a certain amount about racial diseases, he thought he had learned everything. Preparing teachers to impart the necessary safeguarding knowledge to children was the most important duty of a medical officer. The question whether this instruction should be given had now been answered in the affirmative by every authority. The position was narrowed down to the question of procedure. Should there be preliminary teaching at home ? At what age should sex and Eugenic teaching be given in schools? What form should such instruction take, and how should such instruction be given ? They were four questions waiting to be decided. Under present conditions most of the teaching would devolve upon parents, schoolmasters, clergymen, or doctors. Few parents were qualified for such a task, and the same might be said of most clergymen. The ultimate solution would probably be the appointment of a staff of experts, All teaching must be authoritative, and given with perfect frankness. Everything depended on the personality of the teacher. A man could say anything, even to a woman, without giving offence, if it were said properly. The phases of race culture were of the most vital importance to Australia. Dr. Smith lurther pointed out that a commencement should be made by teaching the teachers and the establishment of classes for older girls as constituted in Tasmania by Act ot Parliament. It is hoped that as a result ot the Education Commission’s work in New Zealand that some scheme may be evolved on the lines laid down by Dr. Smith. There are a number of subjects which could, with advantage be erased from the curriculum and eugenics and primary political economy substituted.