EDUCATION WITH REFERENCE TO SEX 



Eighth Yearbook of the National Society for the 

 Scientific Study of Education 

 By CHARLES RICHMOND HENDERSON 



f *~r\ 1HIS study, which was made at the request of the Executive Committee 

 1*1 of the Society, and published after their critical examination, and 

 J* ~L '2' a PP rova l °f three medical advisors who have read it, is 



divided into two parts. The first part is chiefly medical and economic, and seeks 

 to prove the necessity for social control of some kind. Medical authorities are 

 cited to show the nature and prevalence of venereal diseases, and of the physical, 

 economic, and moral loss due to the abuses of sexual life. The various methods 

 of police and administrative control in Europe and America are described and 

 critically discussed. The fundamental cause of the evil is found to lie too deep 

 in nature, habit, ignorance, and socfal neglect to be reached by merely external 



This argument demonstrates the necessity for education with reference to 

 sex — the theme of the second part of the work. In this part is found a careful 

 discussion of educational aims, the scope of educational activities, the co-operat- 

 ing agencies in education, the care of infancy, personal hygiene and training, the 

 influence of ideal interests, the principles of formal instruction in relation to sex 

 — its necessity, difficulties, and methods. The distinctive needs of childhood, 

 adolescence, and maturity are treated with care, and the possible modes of instruc- 

 tion in the schools of various grades are presented. The duties of normal schools, 

 of the religious organizations, and of parents, in view of the situation, are set 

 in the light of the facts. In the appendix is printed a valuable paper by Dr. Helen 

 Putnam, president of the American Academy of Medicine, and also translations 

 of important recent discussions of German teachers. 



The author is president of the Chicago Society of Social Hygiene, and 

 associate member of the American Academy of Medicine, and a Professor of 

 Sociology in the University of Chicago. 



ADDRESS DEPT. 62 



THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO PRESS 



CHICAGO NEW YORK 



