The Philosophy of Sex Education

Sex education is an integral part of total education for living which begins at birth and proceeds throughout every phase of growth. The basic patterns of the childs future sex attitudes and behavior are set in the formative first five years of his life. Factual knowledge is not enough. Our sex lives are but a part of our total lives and accordingly our primary task is to teach the young and the not-so-young the art of living of which sex is only a part. We must try to make the parents of the present and the future realize that it is not enough for them to aim at giving their children economic social and educational benefits. Far more fundamental is their rejection of the unfounded fears and superstitions which have been perpetuated by being passed on from one generation to another. The fairy tales about the doctors bag and the stork which parents tell their children when they ask about the facts of life the arbitrary and senseless distinctions between some natural functions which are described as "dirty" and others which are not the superstitions and racial and religious prejudices bequeathed by one generation to another--all have effects which persist even after the heirs have matured enough to toss out some or all of the trash. (excerpt)