TEACHING OF TEMPERANCE AND SEX-PHYSIOLOGY

Evening Star, Issue 17922, 18 March 1922, Page 2

TEACHING OF TEMPERANCE AND SEX-PHYSIOLOGY

IK THE PRtSABY SCHOOLS,

a nronißßiNG experiment

[By Make Comes.]

JLj attention has been called by sawrd parents—quite a large number, in fact'— of children attending tho State primary schools in this city to tho circular which is jointly fathered by the Now Zealand Alliance and tho Education Department, and on the subject-matter of which tho pupils of Standards IV., V., and yi. hav» •been invited to write essays, Tho caption. of this Dominion prize essay competition is clear curd distinct as to responsibility for' its compilation and issuance, as tho covering circular is couched in these terms r

Subject of essay, ‘ Alcohol and tho Dunum Body and Mind, based on cdu-

■ cation report Do. 13 issued by tho Government Education Department. A total sum of over £431, distributed by way of cash prizes, has been set aside by the Alliance for this purpose, and will bo divided among the pupils in the schools controlled by tho various education boards, etc. To the pupils of section A (limited to the scholars oi Standard VI.) there are allotted a first prize of five guineas, a second of three guineas, a third of two guineas, and ten extra prizes of half a guinea each. In section B (restricted to pupils of Standards IV. and V.) there are awarded a first prize of three guineas, a second of two guineas, a third of one guinea, and ton other prizes of half a guinea each. Superaddcd is a reward of five guineas for the essay “adjudged to bo the best of all those submitted ” in two sections enumerated above. Ido essay is to exceed’l,soo words in length. Competitors in section A are enjoined to “ write principally about tho influence of alcohol upon bodily health and its effects on home life,’’ wluls those in section B “ should, deal mainly with the effects of ulcojiol on the physical health, on tho brain and nervous system, on the moral aspects, and the relation of those to good citizenship. They may endeavor to describe what changes would take place in life in New Zealand if there were no public-houses and no liquor traffic,’* Now, wholly apart from Die cupidity which essay writing for tho “almighty dollar” engenders in the youthful mind, I venture to affirm that, with an already overloaded syllabus, with the outcry against “ cram ” which is so frequently heard, and with the knowledge gained by actual experience- that such contests aro not conducive to qualifying our children to successfully engage in the battle of life which they have to wage injater years, anyone who takes the trouble to carefully road and studiously ponder this bulletin No. 13 of the Education Department will, I think, bo disposed to support my contention that it was wholly beyond the mental capacity of the pupils of Standard IV., at any rate, if it does not set to the pupils of Standards V. and VI. a task of considerable difficulty.

But what I specially take exception to is the chapter headed "‘Alcohol and Venereal Disease,’ which seeks to trace the connection between intoxicants and social ■disorders in these terms ; It must be remembered that many evils', not themselves the direct physiological effects of alcohol, are nevertheless clue to its physiological effects and their associated deleterious conditions. For

instance, the lessoned power of selfcontrol is a notorious contributing factor in the contracting of venereal dis-

ease. The Royal Commission on Venereal Disease has stressed that the communication of these diseases is fre-

quently duo to indulgence in intoxicants, and that the growth of temperance would help to lessen, the very serious conditions which this inquiry revealed. Alcohol lowers the resistance to temptation, lowers the power of the body to resist infection, aggravates tho symp-

toms, and prejudices the treatment. Is it right to charge the unformed minds of girls and boys of from ten to twelve years with the fons et origo of th.c most complex of all human problems? It is time enough to begin iho study of sox physiology in the very last year of a child’s school life, and then it should lx> taught only in its most elementary phases, reserving till the years of adolescence a better knowledge of those leading and guiding principles which every boy and girl should be well grounded in before he or she undertakes the great responsibility of establishing a home and founding a family. By whom should' this absolutely necessary instruction be. given? That is a question which has often been debated, without any satisfactory reply having been yet formulated, Obviously, iho proper and rightful instructor is (lie parent, who, however, in those days of family laxity v/bep so much is done for him by 'the State, shirks his plain duty, which he would relegate to the public school teacher. The Royal Commission on Education in 1912, over which I had the honor to preside, took a great deal of evidence on this subject, and made this pregnant deliverance i

The general opinion appears to be thatsomething of tho kind (the teaching of sex physiology)# should bo undertaken, but there is much diversity of view as to when and by whom this instruction should bo given. Tho Commission agrees that advice should bo imparted to all boys aarl girls at wm time before they jlnnlly hare school — preferably by tho parents; but in view of tiro fact that Fueh necessary instruction is too often neglected by parents, iho Commission recommends that teachers should be enjoined to adopt a form of lecture such as has been suggested by Dr Home, M.D., Cb.M., Edinburgh, and l D.Ph., London. . , . But, bettor still, every head teacher nhoakl, where practicable, deal person ally And sympathetically with cadi individual pupil. And v.-o would direct special attention to tho evidence on this point given by tho principal of tho Girls’ College at Wanganui, where Miss Cruicksharifc has arranged for a series of excellent loeturettes by a medical lady of experience and sound judg-

merit. [The italics are mine,—M.C.] I understand that permission to circulate the .Alliance’s literature was given by the Otago Education Board some lime last year, but it is only fair to the chairman (Mr Wallace) to say right here that he was far from being satisfied about the wisdom of the stop, as lie hinted that the time might come when the “ trade ” might desire to bo placed on the same footing, j It might, in that event, be a case of what was sauce for the goose should be sauce for the gander, and the board might be placed in an awkward dilemma. But, the experiment has been made, and a doubtful one it has proved, judging by the material employed in the compilation of circular Xo. 13, and the methods; adopted in exploiting the school children. I am further informed that in more than one of our city schools parents aro making strong objection to tho insidious and unpractical way in which a most delicate I question is being handled, and that a protest. will 'be made at the next annual meeting of householders if the practice is to bo continued. I hold no brief for tho 6 ‘'trade,’' and ray worst enemy will not deny to me the credit of having wrought during a long and busy life for the promotion of true temperance, as I eh all continue to do as; long as I am spared to wield a pen or to voice my opinion on those matters. But I do make my firm protest against children of tender years being called on to express their most immature opinions on sexual matters of any kind. What idte quality of the essays may he- is beside tho question altogether. They may bo tho means of unearthing future publicists and historians; but the manner of tho competrtiwi is hardly likely to produce such results. Wore it conducted in the „classroom under the immediate eye of the class teacher a higher value would bo properly assessed than when tho essay is written in tho home with the assistance (ja the great aKyorius o£ cases! of tho

<iildei« of ihf family, Sfccte ore «tuMwm thing*, etc. As too qwwiacai touch-ad on fey ism !s of vita! importance to tbfl raring gawntUnn, I trust that, those who eha» xny view that irfadies. in sex-physiology shall bo txtisrviid till tire period of arioWwuce, a«d Dm (so far &a our schools are oorasr&ed.) shall' only be taught by thoroughly qualified iacfcrnctons on the linca recommended by tho Education Commission of ISIS, will unite with me in demanding that a different pours© of procedure and mans prudential measures must be adopted in future if the literature of the Now Zealand Alliance ia to bo mack non of in rim State echpoia.

[lnquiries made this morning at the education hoticPqtiartetis, Otago, show th&i* facts; That the Education Department issued to the .teachers a pamphlet on alcohol and its effects on the human system. Then this pamphlet was reprinted by the Alliance, and that body obtained the Otago Board’s permission to distribute it through the schools. This has been done, and we kjjnw as a fact that it was also done in Canterbury.]