Human Growth

Directed by Sy Wexler

The first film about human reproduction to be approved for screenings in American public schools. The film uses a film-within-a-film technique, showing a seventh-grade class as they view and discuss an animated movie which traces human growth and development of the organism from mating through pregnancy and birth, then from infancy through childhood and adolescence to the adult form with differences in male and female structural development emphasized. The film opens with a scene from a typical 1940s nuclear family home with mother and father sitting in the living room as their kids George and Josie prepare for school presentations. George is reading about the native people of Hiwassee Island while his sister Josie thinks of how she will introduce the topic of growth and puberty to her class.