SEX INSTRUCTION FOR THE YOUNG

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22114, 18 November 1933, Page 4

SEX INSTRUCTION FOR THE YOUNG

“ Sex Education in Schools: an Experiment.” By Theodore F. Tucker and Muriel Pout, B.Sc., M.I.H. Foreword by Dr William Brown, University of Oxford. London: Gerald Howe. (3s 6d net.)

With the tardy recognition by civilised people that interest in the “ facts of life ” is natural and healthy in children, the necessity for books in which assistance is given to parents and, more particularly, to teachers,-in imparting sex knowledge becomes urgent. The result of an awakening to the desirability of answering the child’s questions on birth and fatherhood has not, unfortunately, been what one might have anticipated. The schools have approved the principle, but ruled that the duty is outside their province, and few parents have ventured to deal with the subject in their homes. The authors of “ Sex Education in Schools ” describe how they fared in dealing with this problem in elementary schools in Wales. They found the parents for the most part eager to approve their experiment or surprisingly indifferent to it; they found the children intelligent and responsive to their instruction. The book contains, in addition to the interesting chapters which prove the desirability of the work which they -have undertaken, accounts of the talks to boys and girls on biology and hygiene and a record of the illuminating questions asked and answered frankly and satisfactorily. It is not too much to say that this with its scientific approach and commonsense attitude to difficulties as they are encountered, should be read by all who are responsible for the education of young people (from Angus and Robertson, Sydney).

Under I the enigmatic title of “ How Alyce Was Told at Six,” we are presented with another view of the manner in which children may be appraised of the biological facts. Were this work not so obviously since’re, one might be pardoned for dismissing it as a parody on the subject. From the title to the illustrations it is sentimental and evasive (Signs Publishing Company, per Robertson and Mullins). A. L. F.

First Favourites Since “ Everyman’s Library ” was started a-quarter of a century ago 900 volumes have been issued, and recently its editor, Mr Ernest Rhys, consulted 18 eminent readers and writers —among them J. B. Priestley, G. K. Chesterton, Richard Aldington, Sir Arthur Keith, Dean Inge, C. B. Cochran, Sir Austen Chamberlain — with the object of discovering which of the books are most constantly read by them to-day. This friendly * poll, the results of which are now issued by Messrs J. M. Dent, brought many interesting revelations of taste, but a choice of the first “ favourite 25 ” books was comparatively simple. Shakespeare’s Tragedies headed the poll with 17 votes, the Comedies, Historical plays, and Poems being with 16 votes each. Twelve votes were cast for Boswell’s “ Life of Johnson,” 11 for Pepys and David Copperfield, 10 each for “ Pride and Prejudice ”, and an “ Omnibus Lewis Carrol!; ” " Pilgrim’s Progress,” “ Canterbury Tales,” Keats’s “ Poems,” all 9 votes; “ Wuthering Heights ” and the “ Iliad,” 8, followed. The other favourites were: “Pickwick Papers,” “Vanity Fair,” “ Barchester Towers,” Milton’s “ Poems,” “ Don Quixote,” Bacon’s "Essays,” Plato’s “Republic,” “Guy Mannering,”- and “Robinson Crusoe.”

An Antarctic Hero Interest in South Polar exploration old and new continues to be reflected in publishers’ lists. Following the life of Oates published by Thornton Butterworth comes the announcement by John Murray of “Edward Wilson of the Antarctic.” Dr Wilson’s two polar journeys were the consummation of a life of noble ideals, and the last tragic struggle back from the Pole is shown to be the crowning nobility of a noble /life.