Sex-education Part 7

With this understanding that _the task of s.e.x-education is the ever-advancing improvement of s.e.xual conditions in individual as well as in social life_, let us turn now to consider the possible lines for definite educational attack on the chief problems of s.e.x. It will be most helpful if we first a.n.a.lyze the general task of s.e.x-education into some specific aims that may definitely guide instruction, and then in later lectures consider the methods and detailed subject matter of s.e.x-instruction.

-- 16. _The Aims of s.e.x-education_

[Sidenote: Emphasis on social disease.]

Since the revelations concerning the disastrous physical effects of s.e.xual immorality, especially as it exists in the commercialized conditions of the social evil, have had the chief influence in awakening intelligent people from their age-long ignorance and indifference concerning the great s.e.x problems, it was natural that those who first proposed special instruction should have emphasized the social evil and its diseases so much as to create the widespread but erroneous impression that the great aim of s.e.x-education is to teach the distressing facts concerning the pathological consequences of immorality.

[Sidenote: Other problems need emphasis.]

Now, without in the least underestimating the vast importance of the emphasis placed on s.e.xual immorality and social diseases in the splendid pioneer work of the late Dr. Morrow and others for the s.e.x-education movement, and without suggesting that these topics should be neglected while reorganizing the educational attack on s.e.x problems, I believe that so far as formal instruction in homes, schools, and colleges is concerned, we may gain a decided advantage if we now recognize and declare boldly that the physical effects of the diseases arising from the social evil const.i.tute _only one of several_ groups of s.e.x problems that organized education should attempt to solve.

Concerning the other problems that s.e.x-education should touch with great definiteness, it is my personal view that most of those outlined in the preceding lectures will be affected by instruction along five important lines, as follows:

[Sidenote: Five lines of instruction.]

(1) The scientific truths that lead to serious and respectful att.i.tude on all s.e.x questions. (2) The personal s.e.x-hygiene that independent of social diseases conserves individual health directly or indirectly through s.e.xual normality. (3) The ethical responsibility of individuals for the physical or social or psychical harm of their s.e.xual actions upon other individuals, _e.g._, in prost.i.tution and illegitimacy. (4) The hygienic, ethical, and psychical laws that promote physical and mental health in monogamic marriage. (5) The established principles of heredity and eugenics which foretell the possible coming of a better race of humans. I believe that in these five lines there are educational problems of present and future greater significance to human health and happiness than are found in the social evil and its diseases, commandingly important though these be. Therefore, in viewing the field of s.e.x-education with reference to the possible usefulness of knowledge in helping individuals solve the vital problems that have grown naturally out of the reproductive function, I believe that we are logical only when we organize our educational aims so as to give scientific instruction concerning the problems of s.e.x in the several lines in addition to the physical or hygienic aspects of the social evil and its diseases.

[Sidenote: Four aims.]

As I now see in the large the s.e.xual problems which scientifically organized education should attack, the educational aims may be grouped under four general headings as follows:

First and most important, s.e.x-education should aim to develop an open-minded, serious, scientific, and respectful att.i.tude towards all problems of human life which relate to s.e.x and reproduction.

Second, s.e.x-education should aim to give that knowledge of personal hygiene of the s.e.xual organs which is of direct value in making for the most healthful and efficient life of the individual.

Third, s.e.x-education should aim to develop personal responsibility regarding the social, ethical, psychical, and eugenic aspects of s.e.x as affecting the individual life in its relation to other individuals of the present and future generations; in short, s.e.x-education should consider the problems of s.e.xual instincts and actions in relation to society.

Fourth, s.e.x-education should aim to teach _briefly_ to young people, during later adolescence, the essential hygienic, social, and eugenic facts regarding the two destructive diseases which are chargeable to s.e.xual promiscuity or immorality.

[Sidenote: Order of importance of aims.]

For emphasis, let me briefly summarize these aims of s.e.x-education: (1) Serious, scientific, and respectful att.i.tude of mind on s.e.x questions; (2) personal s.e.x-hygiene; (3) social and ethical and eugenic responsibility for s.e.x actions; (4) relation of immorality and social diseases. I have deliberately, placed these educational aims in this order because it is the order of greatest permanent importance in the s.e.x-education movement; it represents the greatest value to the largest number of individuals who may learn the scientific truth; and it is the order most natural, most logical, and most effective in pedagogical practice with young people.

[Sidenote: Relation of aims to problems of s.e.x.]

s.e.x-education organized with regard to these four aims will touch definitely all the eight problems of s.e.x that have been discussed in preceding lectures. The first aim will directly affect the problem of vulgarity and indirectly touch those stated under the third aim. The second aim is obviously directed to the problem of personal health as it may be influenced by the s.e.xual processes of one individual independent of others. Of course, there is also the personal aspect of social diseases, but it is clearer to consider both personal and social aspects of these diseases as a unit in the fourth aim. The third aim is based on five of the eight great problems which involve individual responsibility for the social evil, for illegitimacy, for s.e.xual immorality, for matrimonial harmony, and for eugenics. The social aspects of the venereal diseases obviously involve personal responsibility of the individual in relation to society as well as a personal hygienic problem. Thus, six of the eight great s.e.x problems are essentially social and only those relating to personal hygiene and individual att.i.tude are so distinctly personal as to have only an indirect relation to other individuals, as might be true in case of unharmonious marriage of individuals who are vulgar minded or who have been injured by unhygienic personal habits. Finally, the fourth aim provides for teaching the _essential_ facts that may help individuals protect themselves directly, and society indirectly, against the diseases that awakened the world to the need of s.e.x-education.

Let us turn now to a.n.a.lyze the aims of s.e.x-education and consider how they may be connected with a definite scheme for s.e.x-instruction.

-- 17. _The Aims as the Basis of Organized s.e.x-instruction_

I have placed first the aim to develop a serious and respectful att.i.tude toward s.e.x and reproduction because at the root of the s.e.xual problems of our times is the prevailing vulgar interpretation of s.e.x and life discussed in a preceding lecture (-- 11).

[Sidenote: Biology and att.i.tude.]

Recognizing the great importance of att.i.tude, how may it be influenced by instruction in home or school? The most widely accepted answer is that the best beginning may be made through study of biology (including botany, zoology, and physiology) and through nature-study and hygiene taught on a biologic basis. No other method of introduction to s.e.x-instruction is so natural and so likely to lead to a serious, scientific, and open-minded att.i.tude concerning s.e.x. In fact, a large part of the study of reproduction of plants and animals in courses of biology in schools and colleges has its value chiefly in the overwhelming evidence that problems of s.e.x and reproduction are natural and dignified aspects of life. Such biological study determines att.i.tude in no small degree. This is the chief justification for study of the reproductive processes in a series of animals and plants representing stages between the complex development of the highest animals which parallel human life and the lowest forms which the microscope reveals. In all my cla.s.ses of twenty years in high school and college I have noted a marked development of serious, scientific, and open-minded att.i.tude in response to natural and frank presentation of animal and plant life-histories. Moreover, I have many times requested large groups of students to write freely and frankly concerning the influence of biological courses upon their own att.i.tude; and their papers have strongly supported my observation that study of animal and plant life-histories exerts a profound influence upon the att.i.tude of students towards the human problems of s.e.x and reproduction. If I were stating a defense for biology as one of three or four essential science courses for general education, I should place the greatest emphasis upon the study of animals and plants as a foundation for s.e.x-instruction. Certain critics would reply that all the biological facts that are actually used in the direct human application of s.e.x-instruction could be taught in a few lectures without a year's course in biology; but it is a demonstrated fact that a few isolated lessons do not give the att.i.tude that comes from a good course of biology taught with the view to culminating in special s.e.x-instruction.

[Sidenote: Literature and att.i.tude.]

Only recently has it been pointed out that one's att.i.tude towards s.e.x may be profoundly influenced by reading certain general literature that holds up high ideals of love and s.e.x and life. It will be most convenient to consider the influence of literature on s.e.x-instruction in another lecture (-- 23).

[Sidenote: Teaching personal s.e.x-hygiene.]

Now let us consider the general bearings of the personal s.e.x-hygiene demanded by the second aim. For children under ten and twelve the necessary hygiene should be presented personally (see -- 25). For young people of adolescent years there are four possible ways of instruction in personal s.e.x-hygiene: (1) It may be added naturally to a course or series of lessons in general hygiene including the problems of health for all systems of organs. (2) It may be included in a study of vertebrate and human reproduction in a course of biology or zoology.

(3) It may be presented by a special lecture that is independent of all regular courses of study. (4) Special booklets may be put into the hands of young people. Let us now examine each of these ways:

[Sidenote: s.e.x-hygiene in general hygiene.]

(1) s.e.x-hygiene as a natural part of a series of lessons in general hygiene is most satisfactory when preceded by biological nature-study or high-school biology in which life-histories of organisms have been studied for the sake of att.i.tude. At present we lack satisfactory textbooks for this kind of correlation. There is a strong reaction against independent courses of hygiene in high schools, and the next plan is becoming more common.

[Sidenote: Hygiene in biology.]

(2) The inclusion of the necessary hygiene of all organs in courses of biology or zoology that have emphasized physiology and its bearings on health is the best arrangement so far proposed and tested in practice.

It has been tried with success by Dr. W.H. Eddy in the High School of Commerce, New York City, and by other high-school teachers working along the same lines. The arguments for teaching general hygiene on a biological basis have been presented in the last chapter of "The Teaching of Biology in Secondary Schools" by Lloyd and Bigelow, and put in textbook form in the "Applied Biology" and "Introduction to Biology"

by M.A. and Anna N. Bigelow. However, personal s.e.x-hygiene is not included in these textbooks, because educational and public opinion do not yet stand for such radical lessons in books for schools.

[Sidenote: Special lectures on hygiene.]

(3) Special lectures on s.e.x-hygiene independent of biology or general hygiene are at best makeshifts, and not without dangers. I fear the effect of the abrupt introduction to s.e.x problems by special lectures, especially for girls who may be shocked much more than the average boys can be. I heartily sympathize with parents and school officials who object to special lectures that suddenly focus attention on problems of s.e.xual health. It seems to me that special lectures should be given only when no other method of teaching is possible. This applies especially to young people who are not in schools. While I have stressed biological nature-study as offering the ideal basis for the broadest kind of s.e.x-education, I realize that there are cases where such study cannot be held prerequisite to some aspects of s.e.x-hygiene that young people should know. However, we should aim to make such cases the exceptions and not the rule. Some good may be accomplished by teaching certain facts of s.e.x-hygiene frankly and directly to those who have absolutely no knowledge of nature-study and biology; but after watching the reactions of groups of boys who were receiving such information, I have been convinced that even with a limit of one hour for instruction a biological setting is decidedly important in that it gives an indirect approach.

(4) Special books and pamphlets are useful when, and only when, the above methods are impossible, but certain cautions are desirable (see -- 22).

[Sidenote: Difficulty in ethical-social teaching.]

The third aim involves some difficult educational problems. Since we confess that we know so little concerning efficient methods for ethical, moral, or social teaching, it is evident that we must be far from a satisfactory plan for dealing with instruction which is intended to oppose most powerful instinctive tendencies and long-established habits of sensuality. Clearly the third aim sets no easy task for the educator; but since the possible solution of s.e.x problems must turn on the s.e.x actions of the individual in relation to society, the ethical-social aspects of s.e.x-education must not be evaded because the way is not yet entirely clear. The fact is that a good beginning has been made, especially in teaching concerning social diseases, heredity, and eugenics.

[Sidenote: Social hygiene and ethics.]

The value of all the proposed teaching concerning the relation of immorality and social diseases is more ethical than hygienic. Read any of the standard literature on the social side of venereal diseases, especially the masterly writings of the eminent physician and chief organizer of the American movement for s.e.x-education, the late Dr.

Prince A. Morrow, of New York City; and one notes that the medical facts have bearings in two directions. First, they indicate the desirability of morality as a protection of personal health; and second, they teach that the pathological results of the individual's immoral living may be pa.s.sed on later to innocent wives and children.

The first is as clearly personal hygiene as teaching that impure water may cause typhoid; but the second is social hygiene and ethics. The second is more impressive to all but the most selfish people.

There is good reason for believing that information concerning the social diseases is more likely to impress the average young man through the social-ethical appeal much more than as a matter of personal health. Therefore, a biological lesson on social diseases, which may be presented most logically in connection with other germ diseases, may have its chief value in that its meaning is social and ethical.

[Sidenote: Biology and ethics.]

As another ill.u.s.tration of biology touching ethics, I have recently come to believe that the teaching concerning heredity and eugenics, which should be a standard part of the best s.e.x-instruction, has its greatest value in the ethical appeal, and not in the direct biological application of the laws of heredity which underlie eugenics. I realize that this statement is likely to be disputed by those biologists who see in eugenics only the possibility of controlling heredity so as to propagate better strains of humans, just as breeders of plants and animals have produced better domesticated varieties. A biologist naturally believes that the ultimate aim of eugenics is improvement of physical and psychical qualities; but considering the ethical-social-biological complications of human s.e.x-problems, it seems improbable that any decided and extensive improvement is likely to come if we continue to limit our interpretation of the principles of eugenics to the purely biological standpoint of the breeder of plants and animals. Let me ill.u.s.trate by some concrete facts from eugenics:

There is a widespread opinion among science teachers that high-school biology should present some of the best established facts of heredity; and that these should be eugenically applied to human life by means of such ill.u.s.trations as those afforded by the histories of certain degenerate families, such as the well-known Jukes and Kallikaks. A brief sketch of the history of the latter family, as described in Dr.

G.o.ddard's interesting book, "The Kallikak Family" (Macmillan), will make clear my point as to the ethical appeal of eugenics.

[Sidenote: Eugenics and ethical teaching.]

A young man of good ancestry broke the moral law about one hundred and forty years ago and became the father of an illegitimate son by a feeble-minded mother. Of 480 descendants of this son, there have been 46 normal, many immoral, many alcoholic and 143 feeble-minded. The same man who back in the revolutionary days made a moral mistake which led to such awful consequences, later married a woman of good family and became the progenitor of a second line of 496 descendants of whom 494 have been normal mentally, while two were affected by alliance with another family; and all have been first-cla.s.s citizens, many of them prominent in business, professions, etc.

Even making due allowance for the depressing influence of the environment in which most of the down-and-out descendants in the degenerate line lived, the comparison between the normal and the abnormal lines from the same ancestor gives the most convincing eugenic evidence that has been discovered in the human race. Doubtless it will long be used as a basis for attempted biological control of the propagation of the unfit. Many similar cases of hereditary degeneracy are recorded in books on eugenics.