160 SEX 



adolescent troubles, incontinence, sexual vice, 

 and " immorality." These evils do not neces- 

 sarily form an argument in favour of sex- 

 education, for it is possible that we might 

 make bad worse. And although some 

 teachers have put on record that the sex- 

 education they give has been rewarded, it is 

 possible to answer that they were peculiarly 

 gifted, or that they worked in peculiar con- 

 ditions. And although notable workers like 

 Miss Jane Addams of Chicago, whose Spirit 

 of Youth in the City Streets we cannot too highly 

 recommend, have recorded the statements of 

 those who have gone badly astray, that it 

 would have been otherwise " if they had only 

 known," it is possible to answer that this is 

 a common form of excuse. Yet these cold- 

 blooded arguments against doing anything 

 at all are usually whirled away when we come 

 into personal contact with disaster, and are 

 forced to ask ourselves whether fore-warning 

 might not have been a safeguard. 



If saying nothing were working well, most 

 of us would be inclined to let well alone ; for 

 none of us like speaking about sex, and there 

 is certainly danger of giving instruction un- 

 wisely and of breaking in on the adolescent's 

 reserve of mind. But the method of saying 

 nothing is not working well ; so that it seems 

 that more experiment in the line of sex- 

 education should be made. Prof. Stanley 

 Hall emphasises the advantage of getting the 

 right presentation first, preoccupying the 

 mind with a dignified and frank outlook. 

 Otherwise the chances are many that the 

 adolescent gets hold of erroneous information 



