218 PAUL POPENOE 



draw any hard and fast lines excluding certain types of client, but that one 

 must be prepared to take any problem that comes, and either give help or 

 refer the applicant to some other source of help. 



While the work of the Department of Personal Service is most interesting, 

 much larger numbers are reached by the Department of Public Education 

 which, therefore, we hope, has a more important function eugenically and 

 socially than any other aspect of the Institute's work. (The third Depart- 

 ment, that of Research, awaits funds to function fully.) 



Many of those who apply to the Department of Personal Service want, 

 or pretend to want, merely educational material for impersonal use, — in 

 fact, these make up the largest single group in the following tabulation 

 of the first 3000 clients: 



Educational material 1397 



Family maladjustments 427 



Child welfare problems 363 



Sex problems 333 



Miscellaneous 204 



Premarital conferences 172 



Problems of heredity 80 



Legal problems 24 



3000 



Many of the students, teachers, club women, and officials who come osten- 

 sibly seeking material for educational use, also have problems of their own, 

 for which they later return to us. However, they are given only the one 

 classification. 



The Department of Public Education, on the other hand, is not dealing 

 with such individuals, but is in the first place using every effort to get public 

 and private educational machinery adapted to meet the needs of education 

 for marriage and family life, and is in the second place presenting the matter 

 on its own account through series of lectures, — usually at least six. This 

 plan provides for some continuity, gives more comprehensive presentation 

 of the subject, familiarizes the auditors with the different approaches to it, 

 and gives them a better opportunity to bring out their own problems and 

 clear up their own minds, through the discussions and personal conferences 

 that follow each lecture. 



Such courses are always given under the auspices of some other organiza- 

 tion which assumes responsibility for promotion. These have included 

 universities; churches, either singly or in cooperation; Y. M. C. A. and 

 Y. W. C. A., either singly or united; women's clubs; and Parent-Teacher 

 organizations. The course offered is a flexible one, modified to meet the 



