Report of the Special Committee on Moral Delinquency in Children and Adolescents Part 7

Thirdly, there is often a genuine ignorance on the part of parents concerning what to say in answer to the natural questions of a child and what terms to use in reply--terms that will be neither embarra.s.sing to the parent nor unintelligible to the child.

Fourthly, many parents are not convinced of the necessity for any special action by them. They feel that, as the child grows, it will a.s.similate this knowledge, but they do not give consideration to the source from which the knowledge may be obtained, or the manner in which it will be imparted.

=(3)The Source of Information=

There is a need for reliable sources of knowledge for the parents.

Suitable literature with a matter-of-fact approach that may yet include the spiritual factor will remove self consciousness. An indirect approach is not helpful. Specimen conversations between parent and child can be readily adapted for any family.

Not all available literature on this subject is of equal quality.

Several religious organizations already have publications suitable for the members of their respective denominations. The Committee is also informed that the Federation of Parent-Teacher and Home and School a.s.sociations, in conjunction with several experts, is now in the course of publis.h.i.+ng pamphlets suited to different age groups.

The barrier between parent and child can be lifted by meetings where talks are given and films shown. Heads of schools, in conjunction with Parent-Teachers' a.s.sociations could invite, on separate occasions, mothers with their daughters, fathers with their sons, or both parents together. The special value of such gatherings would be to enable those with adolescent children to do what they regret having avoided doing in earlier years.

It will be argued that, whatever is done to help parents, there will still be a proportion likely to baulk at giving the information. Some may even remain indifferent. There could be no objection to some unaccompanied girls or boys attending the meetings for parents and children. The Committee states its views on s.e.x instruction in schools elsewhere in the report. It is stressed here that s.e.x instruction given in the absence of the parents may well increase the number of parents who neglect what should be a jealously guarded privilege.

In conclusion, parents should remember that, even though adolescents may appear to possess a great deal of knowledge, it may be factually inaccurate and, above all, may require putting into correct perspective.

This applies particularly to the older adolescents who have been involved in criminal charges. That group may have practical experience of the mechanics of s.e.x; what they require is a more wholesome outlook on the intimate relations of man and woman.

_XII. The Influence of Religion on Morality_

A common element in many of the statements made to the Committee is a desire for a better spiritual basis in our society on which a sound code of morals may be built.

=(1) The Need for a Religious Faith=

The consensus of opinion before the Committee is that there is a lack of spiritual values in the community. This is not merely because the majority of people do not go to church, but because of the general temper of society and standards of morality. Most people would affirm some sort of belief in G.o.d, but are unable to relate it to their daily lives.

It may be a matter of argument that morality is dependent on religion, but the structure of western society and our codes of behaviour have, in fact, been based upon the Christian faith. If this faith is not generally accepted, the standard of conduct a.s.sociated with it must deteriorate.

Signs are not lacking that people are turning away from a purely materialistic conception of life, and seeking a more spiritual basis for conduct.

The recent disclosures in the Hutt Valley indicate a largely nominal church affiliation in most of the cases under review. Although it was stated that thirty-six per cent of the offenders attended church or Sunday School regularly, and that sixty-four per cent had never attended or had ceased to attend, closer examination of the individual cases would be required before any deduction could be drawn from the figures given to the Committee. It is, however, safe to a.s.sume that there was little religious teaching; and it is unfortunately true that there was a failure to observe moral standards. The acceptance of the Christian position cannot fail to promote good conduct in all fields including the relations.h.i.+p between the s.e.xes.

=(2) The Need for Religious Instruction=

The Committee considers that the Nelson system of religious teaching in schools should be encouraged and developed. In so far as the basic philosophy of education in New Zealand may not be religious, the Committee notes that a conference between the Department of Education and the New Zealand Council for Christian Education is being arranged.

Church activities among youth affected were criticized on the grounds that they appealed only to the "good boys and girls", or to those who already belong to a church. This situation presents a challenge which needs to be met, and it will demand, in particular, a consideration of how young people are to be encouraged to spend their time on Sundays.

=(3) The Need for Family Religion=

As family life is vital in this inquiry something must be said about religion in the home. It is clear that, other things being equal, a home with a real religious atmosphere is a good safeguard against immorality, and a sound background for moral teaching, particularly for the development of knowledge about s.e.x.

The practice of family religion is to be strongly endorsed.

_XIII. The Family, Religion, and Morality_

=(1) The Importance of the Family=

From all that has been above written it will be seen that there is not any one cause of the s.e.xual delinquency among children which has provoked this inquiry. There are many predisposing and precipitating causes. If there be any common denominator in the majority of cases studied by the Committee it is lack of appreciation by parents of their personal responsibility for the upbringing and behaviour of their children or, if they do appreciate their responsibility, they are unable to guide them correctly and to maintain control of them. This finding is in harmony with the current of public opinion expressed in the statements that "it all comes back to the parents" or "the parents are to blame". That much cannot be gainsaid.

But what is the root cause of this failure or inability on the part of present-day parents? This is an aspect of its a.s.signment to which the Committee has paid great attention.

It should be made quite plain that the Committee does not subscribe to the view that the s.e.xual immorality which has recently been brought to notice is entirely of the pattern which prevailed in former generations.

Nor can the Committee be content with plat.i.tudinous recommendations as to how this immorality among young persons may be kept in check within the existing processes of the law. It is the view of the Committee that during the past few decades there have been changes in certain aspects of family life throughout the English-speaking world leading to a decline in morality as it has generally been understood. A remedy must be found before this decline leads to the decay of the family itself as the centre and core of our national life and culture.

=(2) The Place of the Family in the Legal System=

The emphasis which the Committee places upon this section of its report calls for a statement of the place of the family in English law.

The family (meaning thereby the father, mother, and children) from time immemorial has had a definite and recognized status in our national life--a place which it has not always occupied or enjoyed in other cultures and other systems of law. There is in our culture an air of sanct.i.ty about the home where parents and children dwell. The rights of a parent against any intrusion into his family affairs have been expressed in such statements as "A man's house is his castle".

Our law of domestic relations centres upon the home. When the Legislature or the law-courts have interfered in the conduct of a home it has only been because one member of the family has failed to discharge the duties which an individual is required to perform towards other members of the family or towards society. Speaking generally, the rights and duties of individual members of the family have been preserved and enforced in our statute law. Ill.u.s.trations are to be found in the Infants Act, the Dest.i.tute Persons Act, the Child Welfare Act, the Family Protection Act, and the Joint Family Homes Act.

The policy of English law is, and always has been, to keep the family together and to uphold the rights of parents. Those rights have correlative duties attaching to them. It is the failure of some parents to perform those duties which has now become a matter of grave concern.

The irony of the situation is that this slipping of parental responsibility has occurred contemporaneously with the granting of financial and other help to parents. Family allowances and State homes should be concomitants of an increased sense of responsibility. Despite all that the State has done, and is doing, for families, the moral standards of the community have somehow been undermined. Is this because of a general lowering of the moral standards of adults? Is the att.i.tude of children towards s.e.xual matters a direct reflection of the thoughts and conduct of their elders? To borrow the words of a Jewish proverb "the apple never falls far from the tree". It has been firmly urged upon the Committee that there has been a "breakdown of the moral order and moral standards". That may be putting the matter too strongly, but there can be no denying the fact that the sanctions of morality today are not as strong as they were, say, forty or fifty years ago.

=(3) The Sanctions of Religion and Morality in Family Life=

Up till early in this century the chief sanctions operating in society were those dictated either by religion or by wisdom and past experience, i.e., religious sanctions and moral sanctions. The standard of religious morality is that which is prescribed in the Bible, interpreted perhaps in different ways by different denominations at different times. The standard of conventional morality is that which has been handed down from generation to generation. There have at times been differences between the religious standard and the conventional standard. For instance, the Church has always reprobated adultery, but even as late as the nineteenth century society accepted, without very much concern, the conduct of a man who had both a legal wife and a mistress. Despite those occasional differences between the religious standard and the conventional standard, our system of morals has been based on the standards of Christianity.

=(4) The Moral Drift=

During last century it was strongly urged by some scientists that a religion based on faith was untenable. Man, it was contended, should accept only what could be proved by reasoning from observed facts. Once again there emerged, particularly in scientific and literary circles, the belief that there could be a code of morals entirely devoid of religious content.

This intellectual standpoint helped to undermine the authority of the churches. The views of the scientists were not the cause of, but undoubtedly did accelerate, the drift from organized religion.

There is evidence of the effects of beliefs developed during the present century in another field of learning, that of psychology. On the one hand, it is held that there was in former days suppression of the natural development of human personality and, on the other, that a great deal of misery has been caused by feelings of guilt. Ill health, even mental illness, has been attributed to these two factors.

Between the two world wars much of the material of the new psychologists began to drift into circulation in so-called popular editions. Doubtless much of the writing was from reputable sources, but the new views, good in origin, began to suffer as had religious faith in the past from poor exponents.

A desire for scientific accuracy is understandable, a wish to understand the working of the human mind wholly commendable, but many people whose loose behaviour was instinctive, rather than inspired, now had apologists for their conduct. The moral drift had become moral chaos.