of our race. He is the man in the making.
Whether he is to be a constructive force, a nonentity, or a destructive
force depends largely on influences during this period. In adolescence the
processes of destruction are quick and sudden. Statistics of reformatories
and prisons show that either crime itself or the moral breakdown which
leads to crime begins in boyhood. A study of the lives of great
constructive characters shows that their success was largely determined by
influences during this period. Certainly, there is no more important task
for our nation than the training of our boys.

Adolescence begins at puberty, the transition period during which the sex
functions come into full prominence. Its beginning is marked by great
physical changes. There are also mental and psychic changes. This fuller
development of sex means for the youth new power, new emotion, new
capacities for enjoyment of life. At this time the will should emerge as
an asset of character. The boy now desires more knowledge of the new world
in which he finds himself. He wants to see it by day and by night. He
wants to be physically active, or entertained. He belongs to some sort of
gang and is loyal to it. His is an age of hero worship.

If the knowledge and the entertainment he finds is wholesome, if the gang
is a good one, if the hero is a noble character, if, with emotion and new
powers, there is also a strong will, all goes well. But if these
influences are not helpful and the will is weak, the result may be quickly
disastrous.[41]

Inquiry into the lives of any considerable number of adolescent boys leads
one to believe that there exists what almost might be called a conspiracy
of silence, misinformation, and bad influence against most boys of this
age. Parents for the most part either evade or answer untruthfully the
questions of their six-, seven-, and eight-year-old boys regarding birth
and reproduction. From this time on, nearly all boys receive many false
and low ideas regarding sex, marriage, and the relationship between men
and women.

After the stork story, there come incorrect versions of reproduction from
boy companions. Then come notes at school, picture cards, comic weeklies,
quack advertisements, and unwholesome vaudeville acts. These destructive
influences come, for the most part, entirely unsolicited, in response to a
normal desire for knowledge and clean entertainment. Boys seldom go to
their first shows to see what is vulgar