Can the school prepare for parenthood? / by John Russell.

  • Russell, John.
Date:
[1909]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Can the school prepare for parenthood? / by John Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Reprinted from “ Eugenics Review, July, 1909. CAN THE SCHOOL PREPARE FOR PARENTHOOD ? By John Russell, M.A. (Headmaster of the Hampstead School of the King Alfred School Society) Ax the suggestion of the Eugenics Education Society I have attempted to answer this question, but I write as a schoolmaster, not as a biologist. And I speak in my private capacity only. The science of Eugenics may be shortly defined as “ the study of the conditions under control which affect the quality of children at birth,” and the art of Eugenics may be defined as “the steps by which the knowledge gained from that study may be turned to practical account in the interest of children yet unborn, and ideals yet unrealised.” The school does not specialise, and can, I think, do little more for the science than lead to some understanding of the place and power of science in human affairs. Can it do anything for the art ? Can it in any sense prepare for parenthood ? There is perhaps a preliminary question—is it desirable that it should so prepare ? With the school lie the destinies of the future, and if we really desire the betterment of the race, and really believe in the physical basis of life, and therefore of betterment, there can be only one answer—it is desirable. Those only can say “ No” who either are content with the prevailing wholesale happy-go-lucky propagation of fit and unfit, or else are afraid that the school, with its pervasive corporate life, will be unable to treat so intimate a matter with becoming delicacy, so think it safer to let sleeping dogs lie. As for the nothing-can-be-done