Cooley's plan makes room for both the publicly supported and the privately, maintained institution. At present the respective fields of public and private enterprise are not definitely outlined. Some object to a public system of industrial education on the ground that it accentuates class differences and denotes an acceptance of undemocratic principles. Others object on the ground that public education should be preparatory for citizenship and should provide children for a large outlook on life but must not deal with such prosaic questions as making a living. On the other hand, it is urged that public moneys are used for the training of professional men and women, and in order to make education democratic the public should also provide industrial training. The American Federation of Labor favors the establishment of schools in connection with the public school system for the industrial training of children from 14 to 16 years of age, but opposes the narrowly specialized training sometimes given under private auspices, because of the antagonism to the position of organized labor often created by such training.

An extension of our public provisions for industrial training seems desirable, but such training should be provided first for such trades as carpentry, sign making, decorating, and others that are pursued apart from large industrial establishments. The public school cannot become a mere appendage of the local manufacturing concerns, but must insist that these concerns carry their part of the burden. Public continuation schools are, no doubt, also in line with correct public policy. Private philanthropy, if it proves fair to organized labor, should extend its operations in the field of industrial training.

7. History and Development of Industrial Education.

The first steps in industrial training were taken by private individuals who established and endowed trade and technical schools. A number of these schools, such as the school in Milwaukee, and the Manhattan Trade School for Girls, have been made a part of the system of public instruction. Many cities have established one or more of the various forms of industrial education, and state laws are stimulating the work. In a num

ber of states, systems of state aid to vocational education are being devised. The Indiana law provides for state aid for training in industries, agriculture, and domestic science through the establishment of continuation, part-time, evening, and all day schools. The plant and equipment must be provided by each local community, and if the work is approved by the state board of education, the local authorities are reimbursed to the extent of two-thirds of the salaries of the teachers handling vocational subjects.

New York in 1910, and Massachusetts in 1911, made provision for state aid to vocational schools. According to the New York plan, the amount of state aid will equal about 29 per cent of the operating expenses in the larger cities and 39 per cent in rural communities.

The Wisconsin law of 1911 requires children between 14 and 16 who have not graduated from the elementary schools but have entered industry to attend part-time or continuation schools. This law will necessitate the establishment of vocational schools. In Connecticut several schools have been established by the state directly, and in other states this method of solving the problem is being agitated. The friends of indus trial education have also attempted to secure federal legislation. Bills relating to vocational training have passed one house of Congress, but have never succeeded in passing both. On the whole, public provision for industrial education has made rapid strides and the subject is receiving much attention.

CHAPTER V

MORAL AND SEX EDUCATION

THE subject of sex education is one of fundamental importance and is rapidly pressing forward for consideration. The awful results of sex irregularity, about which we are constantly learning, force attention to the problem. The cry for sex education is an outcome of the search for preventive methods, and depends upon the realization of the natural consequences of the present failure to cope successfully with the problem of illicit sexual indulgence.

1. Causes of Sex Irregularities.

The first step in a program of sex education is an understanding of the causes of illicit sex relations, and the results that follow. Without doubt ignorance is an important cause, and many boys and girls are contaminated for this reason. Illustrations continually occur of young girls who were apparently ignorant of the probable results of sex irregularity and who become diseased or pregnant through their illicit relations with men. In many communities bad men and boys can be found who will prey upon the ignorance of young girls; on the other hand, the immoral girl frequently demoralizes an entire company of boys, who are seduced largely through ignorance. A large proportion of the school girls who become pregnant yield because they are ignorant of the probable consequences of their missteps. There is something incongruous about an educational system that provides a girl with a ready knowledge of Latin, Geometry, and Ancient History, and denies her instruction about her own physical possibilities that will protect her against dishonor and disease.

It is difficult to believe that very many children are altogether ignorant of the impropriety of sex irregularities, even though

they may know nothing of the consequences. There are but few children who have not been taught the rudiments of modesty, consequently it is clear that illicit sex relations among such children must represent a low standard of morals and a false sense of modesty. Parents have probably exhibited low standards of morals in the presence of their children and have either failed to teach higher standards or have deliberately allowed their children to accept low ideals. In a sense, children are not responsible for their standards, and parents, not children, must be blamed when moral standards are low.

The absence of confidential relations between parents and children on sex matters often renders the children helpless in times of moral danger. Parents do not always advise girls to compel respect from boys and young men, and girls shrink from discussing such subjects with their mothers; consequently familiarities are permitted, which later lead to positive immorality. With the approach of puberty comes sex passion, and neither the boy nor the girl fully understands its significance; both are prompted by curiosity, and both may become its victims.

Coupled with ignorance and low standards we find weak minds and weak wills. Young girls are frequently ensnared by men because they do not have sufficient will power to resist evil. As will be shown in the study of juvenile delinquency, a close connection exists between low mentality and low morality; that is, many girls do not know how to protect themselves or are too weak-willed to do so, and thereby lose their virtue.

It is clear that many boys deliberately indulge in wrong-doing and know that they are engaging in immoral practices. They have been influenced by evil associations and have come to consider illicit sex relations as an accepted form of pleasure. They therefore seduce young girls, especially those belonging to some lower social stratum, who are less resistant to boys or men supposed to come from a higher class. In addition the older boys begin to frequent houses of ill-fame.

The causes of wrong sex relations among adults are practically the causes of prostitution, and include lack of proper

moral and ethical instruction, low wages, double standards of morals, immoral associations, the lust of men, greed, unwholesome amusements, and overcrowding.

2. Results of Illicit Relations.

Naturally it is impossible to secure adequate data concerning the effects of sex irregularities, but many estimates have been made. In the first place the statistics of our schools for the blind show that about one-third of the blind children owe their blindness to ophthalmia neonatorum, which is an affection resulting from one of the venereal diseases. This proportion, it should be specially noted, relates to blind children and not to all blind, as the great majority of the blind acquire their blindness after they become of age.

Another result of sex immorality is venereal disease. The number of men who have or have had gonorrhoea is almost unbelievable, the estimate having been placed by some physicians at 80 per cent of all unmarried men reaching the age of 30. The estimates, however, are based on limited observations in the large cities and do not give due weight to the wide differences that may exist between the rural communities and the large cities, nor between the native and the foreign born population. We must have more information and more statistics on this subject before we will be able to make any generalizations of value about the prevalence of gonorrhoea. It is very probable that the high estimates now made are partly the result of the desire to arouse the people against the dangers of immorality and are therefore exaggerations.

Again, a large amount of sterility is caused by gonorrhoea, estimates placing the figure at about two-thirds of all sterility. Although in most cases it is the wife who is made sterile through infection from her husband, in a small proportion of cases the man loses his virility directly from the action of the disease. An allied effect is the sterility of the wife after the birth of a baby - a condition due to the fact that a pregnancy frequently precedes the action of the disease germ in destroying the fertility of the woman.

One of the most serious results of vice is syphilis, which infects