Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1882-12-15
ARE SCHOOL CHILDREN 0yERWORKED


discussion in the papers, as to whether the
health Of school children is not endangered
by confinement and overwork Not long
SINCE the New York Herdid pul lshed Il long
list Of letters from pupils and parents of
pupils, who thought that the childrcn's
health was being ruined by too much appli-
cation and confinement. The question is an
important one of course: but we can not
Look for any definite and sensible conclusion
of the matter, until the first heat
of preiudiced discussion is over.
It is II well known fact that
when any subject that interests a large
number of people adversely is put to the test
If pro and con, the fanatics on both sides get
into the field of discussion first, brandishing
all manner Of outandish weapons, and max
ing such an outrageous hubbuh, tha, sensi-
bic people are unable TO get their swords Of
words together at ull. We have heard, on
deal Of Babel crying from the contcnding
multitude, and shall wait sometime longer
before the true knights of the subject get to-
gether and decide the dav. Very little has
been said, as yet, by the teachers
and prominent educators throughout The
country. They are certainly entitled
to respectful hearing, having made the SUI
icct of popular education, its best methods
and means, the study of their lives, The
physicians haze said little We may Ger
lanly look to them ior the mai voice III the
matter so far the discussion has been al
most entirely between parents anu pup'ls
on one hand and adventurous scrioDers
and literary old maids on the olher-the
two classes least qualiiicd 10 advance any
thing OF weight on the subject.
1t is possible, however, as the advance
discussion becomes less warm ana rapid
to anticipate lew oil Inc points upon
which the maj decision oil the subject
rests. The first, oil course, VIII be
that OF the number OF hours daily spent In
sedentaty school tasks. In most oil the small
towns and cities throughout The country, the
number OF school hours per day Is limited Ia
five. or at the most, six. Six hours, say, OFT
of the tvcnty-four onc-fourlh OF the who'll
time, onc-half of the working time. That i
equivalent to saying that the lie OF the
school child is equally divided between work
and play, with considerable surplus on Inc
side OF play, arising from Tue three annual
vacations. Consider now mat the physical
constitution OF tile average cllld, IN It's undo
vclopcd state, is not equal toa clhui'ioh OF
constant bodily activity. II Is Impossible
for child 10 exercise steadily more than
three or four hours at time without eN-
peiicncing profound fatigue. Inc sleep oi Il
holiday night is often ierveiisll and restless,
and the child wakes in the morning unre-
frcshcd in body and dull i'll mind One half
OF the hours OF the day, judiclously dis'riO-
lted, give ample time ior exercise ana pay.
The physical rest OF the school hours, oil It.
self, can not be detrimental Inns sen'i-
mental talk abou; the unhealthy erect oi
''scdcntary' school life IS all nonsense. II
it were not for that same enforced resi- Inc
child would be Tar more apt 10 exhaust his
vital powers before he came TO years OF dis'
crction. School life, in these days, is peas
ly varied, too, by frequent change oil
position and surroundings The classes
alternate between one recitation room
and another. Lessons are recitcd in stand
ing position. The study hours are brief,
and tasks made shorter and more eclectic
than they used TO be. There is at least one
recess in each session. Ample incoming is
allowed, and the absurd custom of Furnishing
pupils by keeping them aftti the regular
school hours is going out of vogue. Less
commendablc it seems to us, is the solid-ses-
sion method of the city schools. Two hours
rest between sessions has a wonderful effect
in resting and frcshening the mind and it
would be reasonable to suppose that much
of the value of the second session in city
schools is lost by too brief a incoming Some
additional force may attach to this objection
from the fact that it is from the pupils of
city schools that the complaint of overwolk
principally comes.
The second point about which the contrc-
versy will wage is that of competitive en-
aminations Here, it seems to us, the adj
vantage in argument Will lie with the OBJ
jectors. So wise and sensible man as Prof.
Max Muller dcprecates the present system OF
competitive examinations, in an earnest ar
ticie in the Contemporary Rto@o He says
that the system OF packing the mind with
facts simply for use at examination is .
hurtful one, and leads to no useful re-
suits. If the modern scholar is overworked
at all, il is only during the process Of
''cramming" for the frequent exami-