SEXUAL INSTRUCTION TO THE YOUNG.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 279, 22 May 1912, Page 3

SEXUAL INSTRUCTION TO THE YOUNG.

To the Editor. Sir,—Your leader in to-day's issue of the News is not pleasant reading, but the pleasant is not always the useful. All right-minded parents and teachers ;eel a reticence in speaking to children on a matter which, from its very nature, is so private. Yet, oil the otlier hand, nearly everybody's reason declares that children should have such instruction. The great majority of young girls who go wrong do #o simply out of ignorance of the tendencies, dangers, and respon- < sibilities of the sensual life. Moral depravity in boys, too, arises chiefly from the fact that they acquire the first information from older boys already depraved. What must parents do in the face of this dilemma ? A universal healthy instinct counsels silence, whilst a universal healthy reason counsels speech. There must be a compromise. And the compromise is this: Let there be speech, but it must be reticent and discreet. The mind and the senses, the brain and the nerves are so related to each other that they act and re-act on each other. So intimate and organic is this relationship that conversation or reading about sexual matters tends to excite the sexual instinct. There can be only one reason for enlightening children with this knowledge, and that reason is necessity. A conference on the subject was held at Manheim in 1903. An almost unanimous vote declared that the chief laws of sex should be taught to boys in the higher classes of secondary schools. But the widest diversity of opinion was expressed as to the manner in which the instruction should be given, and also as to the extent of tne matter; nor was therei unanimity as to who should give the instruction. In Germany experiments have actually been made. But the result has not been satisfactory. Complaints have been raised both as to the information given and the way of giving it. The first principle that may be laid down i with safety is that the duty of giving the first instruction in these matters belongs to the parents or guardians of the children. Even in the more general parts of education the school is but n supplement to the home training. The school teacher is only supposed to do what parents cannot efficiently do themselves. But the parent can teach the laws of sex and ought to be able to do so more efficiently than the school teacher, who has a right to presuppose such knowledge if in the course of his lessons questions involving sexual laws should incidentally 'arise. If parents could only be got to see the awful consequences resulting from their neglect they would soon throw aside the prudery that seals their lips on a matter so intimately affecting the health and happiness of their children. —T am. etc., OBSfiUVTCH.