Education: Talk It Over

In Britain, the decision on how much sex education to teach in the nation’s schools is up to local authorities; last week Britons were arguing the subject furiously. One row had flared up when a 14-year-old unwed mother traced part of her troubles to the mothercraft course in her East Sussex school, designed “to teach girls the care of young babies.”

Then, fortnight ago, 13-year-old Alma Tallantire came home from the Maltby Hall Secondary Modern School (Yorkshire) and refused to eat her egg. When her mother, Mrs. Lewis Tallantire, wanted to know why, Alma blamed a sex lecture for girls at her school which explained how eggs were made. Mrs. Tallantire explored further, discovered among Alma’s childish effects pictures copied from the school’s blackboard. Said indignant Mrs. Tallantire: “[They] would label me as a dirty woman if they were found in my handbag.” She compared notes with other mothers, heard that their daughters had lost interest in games and schoolwork, were talking “nothing … but sex, sex, sex.” Last week Mrs. Tallantire said she had 1,000 signatures on a petition protesting the sex talks.

Meanwhile, the London County Council released a cautiously phrased bulletin to school heads and teachers which advised: “When a school has decided what it can usefully and wisely do, it is … desirable to talk the matter over with parents.”