American citizen. [volume] (Butler, Butler County, Pa.) 1863-1872, 1864-04-06
Educational department.
At What Age Should Children En-
ter School.


awakened new interest in the question
which we have put at the head of this pa
per. Although the circumstances of the
event show that no blame attaches to any
one, or to any organization, yet circum-
stance so sad cannot fail to attract atten-
tion to the importance of full compre-
hension of the interests involved, and of
a we'll considered judicious decision res
peeting them.
The facts in the case are simply these :
Louisa Snyder was child nine years of
age, and not four, as has been enormously
stated. She had been sick with the mea-
sles, had been absent from school for some
time, had recovered, and had again atten-
ded about two months. On the day of
her death she went home at noon, cheer
fut and happy as usual so far as was OBJ
served, returned in the afternoon, missed
her spelling lesson, and was detained after
three o'clock. The invariable rule in this
ward, the sixteenth for years, has been to
detain pupils no longer than fiftte min
utes after three o'clock. The teacher of
this little girl, a young lady of amiable
disposition sat down by her side to hear
her lesson. The child was endeavoring to
spell the word hedge, when her head fell
backward, as if in a swoon, and she gas
ped. This occurred at ten minutes past
three o'clock. Another teacher was i'm
mediately called in and restoratives ap-
piled. Ladies in the vicinity were i'm
mediately on the spot, and soon two ply
sicians were in attendance, one of whom
was DR.. Rosenmiller of ll2 Eighth Ave-
nue.; but before this she was dead The
corpse was taken in a carriage to her home
arriving there at ten minutes before four
o'clock. The Coroner's inquest exonera-
ted all persons from blame, and pronoun-
ced it case of syncope."
Without attempting to discuss the ques-
ton, whether it is wise to inhict punish
ment upon a child for failure to recite
lessons, or whether keeping scholars, like
this one, after school, is judicious pun
ishment-the point of real importance con-
nected with this case is this DO our
teachers in assigning their lessons and in
fiicting their punishments, study and suf-
fciently regard the idiosyncrasies of their
pupils? Do they considerthe childs ma
ture, his capabilities, his simple and un-
rejecting course of thought? Does the
teacherask himself, were child again
what would be my thoughts and feelings,
my hopes and desires The rule may be
proper one, that pupils shall be detained
after school, who fail to recite their lessons
correctly; yet the question to be decided
in this case, was not, whether the rule was
proper, but, whether this little girl, Louisa
Snyder, having been debilitated by illness,
was proper subject for its reflection ?
The error seems to have. been, if error
their was, in not considering the feeble
condition of the child.
In no department of education is there
greater liability to fall into routine teach
ing, than in the primary school, and in
none is suchsa course more likely to prove
disastrous than in this. Teach as we
have been taught, is too often the only
light by which the teacher is guided, and
by which the errors of past generations
are entailed upon the present. The
teachers heart becomes hardened to the
daily round of tasks and punishments,
and the school becomes Procustean bed
upon which the intellectual stature of the
child is stretched or Topped off to suit it:
dimensions.
There is no doubt, that many children
are sent to school before they are old Oh
strong enough to bear up under the de-
bilitating influences of the school room
Uncomfortable seats, impure air and over
heated rooms confirm a tendency to dis
ease Thomas De Quincy has signifi
cantly termed it the "Murder of the In
nocent." And here, too, we should con
slider the nature of the child One may
be sent to school at five years, when anothe
could not be safely sent till seven or eight
: In the enumeration Of children of th'
New England States, all are Included be
tween the ages of three and twenty-one
and, if l mistake not, in Massachusetts,
pupils may be admitted at the age of three
Our own law we think wisely fixes tn
e mininum year at FIVE. No scholar ough
: to be sent to school and confined in
room in company with number of othe
children, and compelled to keep quiet si1
: hours day, till he is five years old, ane
many children of nervous Temperament
and feeble constitutions, would be bette
3 off if they did not see the inside of