most suited to its
abilities.

Part of the course of instruction should be obligatory for all, while
another part intended for ulterior individual development should be
optional, according to individual taste and talent. In the obligatory
part of instruction certain subjects might be made obligatory for one
sex and optional for the other; sewing and algebra, for instance. In
this way each sex could choose the most suitable subjects, as is the
case now in universities only.

=Danger of Sexual Perversions.=--A very important point, unfortunately
little understood in sexual pedagogy, is that of congenital sexual
perversions. Tradition regards every sexual anomaly as an acquired
vice, which should be treated by indignation and punishment. The
effects of this manner of looking at the question are disastrous. It
gives entirely wrong ideas to youth, and shuts the eyes of parents and
teachers to the truth.

It is not without a serious motive that I have described at length the
repugnant phenomena of sexual pathology (Chapter VIII). Teachers and
parents should be thoroughly acquainted with this subject. But this is
not enough, for these phenomena commence in infancy. It is a long time
before the child whose sexual appetite is perverted has the least idea
that his inclinations and desires are considered by others as
abnormal. The psychic irradiations of his abnormal appetite usually
constitute the sanctuary of his ideal aspirations and sentiments, the
object of obscure hopes and struggles which are opposed to nature and
the inclinations of his comrades. This is why he neither understands
the world nor himself in this respect. His amorous exaltations are
ridiculed, or else they inspire disgust. Anxiety and shame alternate
more and more with the perverse aspirations of his mind, which slowly
increase. It is only when he arrives at the age of puberty that the
pervert understands his exceptional position; he then feels that he is
exiled from society, abandoned and without a future. He sees his ideal
aspirations mocked by men and regarded as a ridiculous caricature or
even as a culpable monstrosity. He is obliged to hide his passions
like a criminal. As his character is often weak and impulsive, and is
combined with a strong and precocious sexual appetite, he is very
easily led astray, especially if he discovers suitable objects for his
appetite, or perverted companions like himself.

In this way, in secondary schools, we often f