The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1877-04-25
EDUCATIONAL.
Wisdom.

Wisdom.
There is no school that disciplines the mind,
And broadens thought, like contact with man.
The college prisoned graybeard, who has
burned
The midnight lamp, and book bound knowl-
Till sciences or classics hold no lore
He has not conned and studied DER ana DER,
Is but a babe in wisdom when compared
With some unlettered wanderer who has
The Inequalities of every land,
Felt touch of brother In each proffered hand,
Made man his study and the world his col
And gained this grand epitome of knowledge:
Each human being has heart and soul
And self is but an atom of the whole.
hold he is BEST learned and most wise
Who best and most can love and sympathize.
Book wisdom makes us vain and self con-
strained
Our banded minds go round in slittle grooves;
But constant friction with the world removes
The iron foes to freedom, and we rise
To grander heights, and oil untrammeled find
A better atmosphere and clearer skies,
And through It's broadened realm no longer
chained,
Thought travels freely, leaving self behind
From Ella Wheeler's "Maurine."
Mr.. Goodwin Smith has limited views as
to the future usefulness of the average
American college. He says: There is one
mode of extension against which American
tiplication of universities. The effects of the
one horse university system in the United
States and Canada have been ruinous to high
education and to the value of degrees. When
a college, after obtaining from facile legis-
lature university powers, fails or falls int
decay it keeps its powers, which, unhappily
retain pecuniary value, though their lit
erary usefulness has ceased. Trhee univer
sites are enough for England"
Not long ago teacher in one of the New
York public schools was convicted of having
in his possession certain vile pamphlets and
pictures, which he used for the demoraliza-
ton of his pupils. The mans sentence was
heavy one but there was probably no
not willingly have doubled it, to be sure
that their children were safe from the cor
rupting influence of such a monster. We
wish to warn them, as we have warned them
before that there is Just as corrupting an
influence daily set before children who pass
through the streets on their way to school,
which parents appear strangely to ignore
We mean the flash newspapers and cheap
novels which are offered for sale to half
grown boys and girls by their vendors. thrust
gratuitously into their hands as they pass,
with the certainty that they will buy the
succeeding numbers. Very few girls and
fewer boys, unless they have been fore
warned, can resist the tempting dramatic
pictures of kneeling women with streaming
hair, braves armed TO the teeth, ETC., etc.
The opening chapters seem harmless enough,
and the boy or girl, reared most probably in
a refined and christian home, plunges I'M
checked into this offal of kitchen literature.
The strong and concurrent testimony of
medical observers goes to show that the neg
lect of school hygiene has given rise among
school children to bodily deformities and
impaired health, and has added largely to
the preventible causes of injuries that have
mischievously affected a number of those
who would otherwise have been healthy and
wholesome. To bring home to our school
authorities the evils that can be remedied it
is necessary that there should be competent
professional supervision and advice to
protect the schOol-rOom from the in
PRODUCTION of contagious diseases, to cor
rect errors in school premises such as
the arrangement of light desks, furniture,
ventilation, each and all of which need con-
slant supervision by an expert. 1t is on
record that a single child sent TO school be-
fore entire recovery from scarlet fever, in
France, in 1875, was the direct cause of
hundred and fifty cases. of whom fifteen
died. Then, too, it is asserted that for
every instance of harm produced by over
study there are scores of cases of ill health
in teachers and pupils from bad air, bad
ugnJ, DdQ NenJlldJlOn anu the OJneT evils
remediable by medical inspection, and pre-
ventible by competent authority. Teach
ers certainly would gladly receive and act
upon the advice and instruction of an officer
whose supervision would reach the case of
pupils suffering from imperfect sight and
other defects not easily discovered, as well as
assist in occurring such remedies as the
teachers might suggest and require. TO this
end there was recently a conference of school
authorities and experts in Boston, and the
discussions and suggestions as well as a
project of a law for establishing the Office of
medical Inspector of schools had been
printed in a pamphlet of a few pages, the
substance of which is given in this state
ment. 1t is not little satisfactory to find
that in every part of the country school
hygiene is becoming matter of earnest con-
sideration. The practical talent of our peo-
pie lies in their ability to apply science to
our actual needs, and there is no better field
than our public schools. in which, with i'm
mense advantages over other countries, we
all recognize the necessity of raising the
standard of health.