The small high school at Lexington had fallen into the deplorable habit of playing kissing games during intermissions. Mr. Poe, the principal, decided to turn the attention of the students into a less dangerous and disgusting channel. He decided upon asking the pupils to help beautify the school grounds and buildings. He appointed two seniors to choose sides, so that every pupil in the high school would be on one side or the other. He then assigned the north half of the buildings and grounds to one side. On fine days they raked, mowed, planted flowers and vines, placed shrubs, etc., on stormy days they planned interior decorations. At the close of the school year a committee from the town not only decided which side had done best work, but declared that the pupils had gained much practical knowledge and that the schoolhouse and grounds had never looked so well before. 2. Sex Consciousness It is toward the end of the second year that boys often begin to show tendencies toward evil habits. This tendency does not appear because the boys of themselves grow bad at this time; it is a matter of imitation. In the country school the younger pupils come in contact with older boys who lead them into evil, and the same is true in villages and cities. It might be that could the growing boy never come into association with evil it would not become the teacher’s necessity to use the fundamental principles in such a way as to hold the boy’s confidence. It cannot be denied that if he has the confidence of the boys he can control them. No problem, however, requires greater wisdom in the handling. CASE 152 (SECOND GRADE) [Sidenote: Sex Hygiene] Miss Marlowe, the second grade teacher at High Falls, had noticed by Charlie Moncrief’s nervousness, his sometimes vacant stare, and his frequent misuse of his hands, that he needed to be taught on the subject of sex hygiene, but she did not know how best to bring about such instruction. So she kept up a continual corrective set of admonitions like the following: “Charlie, be quiet and listen to this story.” “Study your spelling, Charlie.” “Charlie, come up here and stand by my desk.” And so throughout the year, Miss Marlowe ignored the facts that ought to have led to a reformation of this little boy’s habits. CONSTRUCTIVE TREATMENT When a child shows he has not been given careful teaching relative to sex hygiene, go to his mother and advise her to take the child to a physician. Explain the physical as well as the moral and mental help it may be to the child to have one of two very slight operations performed, after which, with proper diet and bathing, the boy may easily forget his wrong habits. COMMENTS Children can best be taught at home on matters of sex hygiene. This is especially true of children in the lower grades. Mothers, as a rule, gladly respond to a teacher’s or physician’s suggestions for improving the health of their children. ILLUSTRATION (FOURTH GRADE)