Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of EthicsDrake, Durant
Philosophy
Problems of Conduct: An Introductory Survey of Ethics
Drake, Durant
Ethics
(c) Education on matters of sex must probably be attended to in the
public schools. It were better done by parents, perhaps; but parents
cannot be depended upon to do it. The dangers that await indulgence,
the cruelty and brutality of prostitution, should be universally but
cautiously taught; too many boys and girls wreck their lives for l
ack of such knowledge. It is indeed a delicate task to instruct
adolescents in these matters; there is, as Professor Munsterberg
has well pointed out, a grave danger of stimulating, by calling
attention to it, the very impulse which it is desired to curb, of
dissipating the fear of the unknown which may be greater than
that of clearly understood, and thereby, perhaps, avoidable
dangers, and of breaking down barriers of shyness and reticence,
which form one of the most effective of safeguards. Personal
attention to the individual needs of boys and girls of widely
differing temperaments and mental condition is imperative.
But in general, it is to be remembered that almost every boy
and girl learns, somehow, long before marriage, the main facts
concerning sex-relations. And it is far better that that knowledge
should be imparted reverently, accurately, unemotionally, and with
due emphasis upon perils and penalties, than that it should be gained
in coarse and exciting ways, or remain half understood and with a
glamour of mystery about it.
What are the factors in an ideal marriage?
Celibacy is neither natural nor desirable; a happy marriage should
be the goal of every healthy man's and woman's thought. The economic
situation that prevents so many from marrying till nearly or quite
thirty is thoroughly unwholesome and must in some way be remedied.
Marriage in the early twenties is not only an important safeguard
against unchastity; it is physiologically better for the woman and
her offspring. The danger and pain in childbirth to a woman of twenty
or twenty-five are less than in later life, and the children have a
better chance of health. Moreover, young people are mentally and morally
more plastic; they have not yet become so "set" in their ways as they
will later become, and are more likely to grow together and make easily
those little compromises and adjustments which the fusing of two lives
necessitates. And it is always a pity that the two who are to be life
comrades should fail to have these years, in some ways the best of
their lives, together.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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