SWEDEN: Sex in School | TIME

TIME

June 6, 1955 12:00 AM GMT-4

“What should schools do when pupils have children?” asked Stockholm’s Svenska Dagbladet. A Bible teacher in a school in southern Sweden had posed the question after two girls bore babies fathered by fellow students. Should they be expelled, or at least get bad-conduct marks on their final reports? The Bible teacher’s view was that they should. Not so. said the principal, and handed out good-conduct marks. The school’s teaching staff agreed, taking the position that “the schools should not punish, now that society no longer does.” The outraged Bible teacher appealed to the school board, which simply referred him to the official handbook on sex education in public schools—”Established sex relations between youngsters may not be contrary to the general viewpoint in their circles . . .” —and upheld the principal.

Then the Bible teacher appealed to the government itself, protesting indignantly that “in this school, sexual relations between pupils are entirely consistent with the highest conduct marks.” A fortnight ago, at a formal Cabinet meeting presided over by Prince Bertil, son of King Gustaf VI Adolf, the government formally backed the school principal over the Bible teacher.

Explained the vindicated principal: “The couples are good at school and exceptionally hardworking. They had been going steady for a long period . . . Nobody wanted to force them to get married, but they remained true to each other and did so. Now they have settled down happily and their ‘doll marriages’ are touchingly beautiful.” Reported one of the young mothers, 19, preoccupied with both schoolbooks and a six-month-old boy: “Since the baby arrived, my husband and I have had no free time and have been forced to do all our homework at night. Marriage, pregnancy and diaper-changing cannot be combined with schoolwork. We regard the Scripture teacher as a fine and cultured person, but we definitely oppose his moral view. It belongs to another age.” Both she and her husband, reported the girl, have decided to keep on studying. Their prospective careers: teaching.

ncG1vNJzZmismaKyb6%2FOpmaaqpOdtrexjm9taXFlZYVwv9aem56mXaiyuXnIp2Ssm5ikvK17