intellectual level. And the uneducated modern boy is often at that
level through no fault of his own. It actually is hard for men to whom
the wonder and the splendor of life have been revealed to find room in
their mental life for indecent trash. But till we really educate our
boys we are sending them out into life unarmed against some of its
worst features.

And if the general failure of education has this deplorable effect,
what shall we say of the complete lack of any special education
relating to sex in at least a majority of modern schools? I know that
that is a very difficult matter. I know that disaster may follow from
any attempt to do it in a general way through class teaching. I know
too that it ought to be done by parents. But it is not done, and both
boys and girls go out to face the dangers of life in town and country
without the knowledge of physical facts which might guide them into
safety. Actual immorality is indeed uncommon between the ages of
fourteen and seventeen, but those years are often spent in a way that
is the worst possible preparation for the struggle that is to come.

I have put my main stress on the fact that education stops at fourteen,
because to my mind that is the outstanding defect of our system. But
even the education we do give is ill fitted to attain its true end. It
is not the fault of the teachers. Many of them do wonderful work, and
long to be allowed to do better work. But with classes of from fifty
to seventy the most heaven-born teacher in the world cannot achieve his
purposes. It is certain that lovers of purity who really understand
human nature cannot be among the panic-stricken economists who want to
starve education.