in my school. I
should be in no hurry to introduce class instruction--I mean
instruction related directly to human life; but, of course, I should
encourage my teachers to emphasize the life-histories of animals and
plants in the nature-study, and so lay in the pupils' minds a firm
foundation for later connection between human life and all life. At the
same time, I should keep my teachers on the lookout for individual
pupils or groups that might need special attention and, if such be
found, I should seek the cooperation of their parents. And finally,
after a year or two of co-working with parents, I should hope to get
permission for special talks based on nature-study and hygiene. These
talks should first be given to limited groups of pupils, preferably in
the presence of some parents who are interested and who have given
their children some home instruction. Working along such conservative
lines, I believe a tactful principal of a grammar school might succeed
in developing much of the needed instruction for pre-adolescent pupils.

[Sidenote: Instruction in high schools.]

With regard to high-school pupils, we should remember that nine-tenths
of the desirable information is already included in the biology of our
best high schools. The remaining tenth is that which connects all life
with human life; and this requires tact and exceptional skill. However,
the high schools no longer offer an insoluble problem, for many
teachers have succeeded in giving the desirable instruction to the
satisfaction of critical principals and parents.

[Sidenote: Sex-education from early childhood to maturity.]

There is a widespread impression that sex-instruction should begin with
the approach of adolescence and soon be completed. This idea is often
expressed by parents and even by prominent educators who say that the
father or teacher ought "to take the boy of thirteen aside and tell him
some things he ought to know." Still others have the same point of view
when they advocate that a physician should be called for a lecture to
high-school boys. In fact, most people who have not seriously studied
the problems of sex-education seem to believe that one concentrated
dose of sex-instruction in adolescent years is sufficient guidance for
young people.

Such limited personal instruction might suffice if sex-education were
limited to sex-hygiene. A few hygienic commands in pre-adolescent years
and one impressive talk in early puberty might te