The Weekly Perrysburg journal. [volume] (Perrysburg, O. [Ohio]) 1861-1???, 1867-07-12

Too Wuch SCHOOLING,
We have already placed on record our
protest against the system OF forced mental
culture which is sappiug the health Of the
present generation of children. We have
urged reduction Of the present amount
Of otudy. and Of tho number of hours in
the scholastic day. Wereiurn to the sub.
ice', because il is one Of pressing import.
auce, that should not bo for moment lost
sight OF until the necessary reforms are
effected.
Asa people, we are killing ourselves
with brain work. Our professional aud
business lnen wear ont their nervous sys-
tens and ehorten their lives by too close
attention to study and business. we think
harder and live faster than any other m.
tion on Garth, and as consequence are
moro subject to paralysis ana brain dis.
eases than any other people. Not content
with this WE are actively or rassjvely
assisting in the murder OF our children
for il is morally a murder to shorten lile
unncccssarilv, a single day. The brain OF
the child s subjected to u pressure too
great tor many pdulte, aud the inevitable
result ia injury TO the health, which may
not be apparent now, but will be in alter
years
Six hours q day is too much study for
Iuiuety.nine out OF q hundred children to
bear with safety We roassort, what we
have before claimed, that the sixth hour in
the days work az school is practically
timc wasted. Pupil aud teacher are both
wcaricd. and the attention is only kept on
| the work in hand by great effort When
! this is tho case, teacher aud pupil would
both DO hetter 60 be ont of school, with n
! locked door hetwcep them and their books.
But what shall be said OF teacher or q
system, that, not content with koepi =
children to close study all day in the school
room, sends them homo at night with n
Iple of books out Of which the lessons
! tor tomorrow = rectatious must he loarncdE
! 4 communication in the New York
! Independent tor last week, gives so truth
| full picture or the results Of such a prac-
ticc hat we transfer il to or columns:
II is six o'clock before he is Soirly at it, You
wotk harder than he does and in half an hour one
lesson thcn comes tea. After tea hall AN hour,
or perhaps an hour rompius betoro bedtime lin
ths time, which oughttu be spent IN light, cheer
| ful talk or play, the rest of the LESSONS must he
| learnod. lo Is sleepy and discouraged. Words
which IN the freshness ut the morning he would
have learned IN u VERY few moments with ease, u
is now simply cut Of his power to commit Nou,
isssu are MT superhunmn, grow impatient. AZ
dQrN O'Clock he goes TO bed, hls brain excited and
! WOatiol in no condition for heulthlul slccpi and
his heart bpnressed with the fear of " missing IN
the next DAYS recitatiuns. Aud this Is one out at
the sch1pl-year's two hundred aud sixteen days r.
Iall of which will be like this or verse. One OF
the most ptirul sights we have seen for months
was n few weeks since, little group of -four dear
Children gathered round the library lamp, trying
to learn the next DAYS lesson in time 10 have a
story read to them leore & ing to bel. Thy had
taken tht precauuon to learn one Immediately after
dinner, before going out, cutting their outdoor
play down by half an hour. The two elder W ere
learning long smelling lesson the third was
ernppling with geographical definitions of capcs
promont,ries, etc, aud the youngest was at work
nn his primer. In spite OF all their efforts, bod
timo came before tho lessons were learned. The
little geography student had been nodding ovel
her book Tor some minutes, and she had the phi
losophy to say 60 doh't care I'm 50 sleepy,
had rather 20 To bed than hear any kind of q
story" But the elder ones were griuvcd and un
happy, and said There won't er,r be any time
we shall have Just 50 much more to learn to-mor
row night" Tho next morning however, was
sight still more pitiiul the baby Of seven with
little bit Of paper and pcnc, aud three sums II
addition to be done, and the father vainly en-
deavoring to explain them to him in the hurried
moments before breakfast.
The couclusion Of tho communication
from which We have quoted does but just
ice when it says:
Teachers nre to blame only in part for the pres
cut wrong state Of things They are to blame lo
yielding, for 0cquieScng but the real blame rest
with parents. Here and thcro individual fathers
and mothers, taught, perhaps, by heart-rondinl
experience, try to make stand against the curren
Of false ambitions and unhealthy standards. Bu
these are rare exceptions Parents, MS u class, no
only help on but create the pressure to whicf
teachers Weld and children are sacrificed. The
whole rasponsibilitv is really ,heirs They havl
In their hands the power to regulate the Who'll,
routine to which their children are 70 be subjected
This Ia plain, when We once consider what woulC
be the immediate effect in any community, hrgt
or small It IN influential majority Of parents tool
action together, and Professionally refused TO ALLOW
any child under, fourteen to be confined in scheo
NOR than four hours out OF the twenty y-lonr, more
than one hour at time, or do more than i've hours
brain work in a day Tie law Of supply and de
mand is n first principle In three months th
schools in that community would be entirely reor
ganized to accord with the parents wishes II
three years the improved average health OF tht
children in that community would bear its owI
witness in ruddy bloom along the streats aud
perhaps even ia one generation so great gain o
vigor might be mado that the melancholy statistics
of burial would no longer have to record the dentl
undec twelve years of age, or more than tWo-nlth'
Of tx children who are born,
A good education is good thing, bu
parents should bear in mind that a Rooc
education ~ not all that is requreda at THEN
hands by the children. Bodily health mus
not be sacrificed to mental culture for tht
latter is of little use without the former
"A sound mind IN sound body" is the dc
sideratum OF all proper educational systems
and that cannot be attained by everlasting
tho youthful brain.