Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-01-08


Evening school 567 266 DO
Tot al. "-z,7a8 1925 SOC
The evening school has demonstrated
the NED essity for its organization. Dur
ing the past month 367 pupils, who were
unableIto avail themselves of the usual
school privileges, received instruction in
this school. Eight teachers have been
REQUIRED, and the school is as well dis
ciplineh and managed as any in the
school system. Instruction is given in
the practical branches Of common
school course and the progress made by
pupils lis eminently satisfactory. A large
class of foreigners who at the opening Of
the school could scarcely speak q word Of
English, are now reading in the
third reader, and making rapid pro-
gress III the knowledge Of the funnda-
neutrality-suspicious. of arithmetic. No one
can visit the evening school and observe
the yea of its pupils, without being con-
WINGED that no expenditure Of the public
funds is made by this board that will be
of more benefit to the city than that for
the sup port of this school.
The attention Of the public has been
recently called, by an editorial in one of
our daily papers, 10 the relation Of educa-
ton and modern school methods to the
health of pupils Statistics eff the schools
of Cleve Gland were quoted, as showing
deterioration of health among the pupils
and era duates of the High school of that
city, ca used by overwork, and the re-
quirements of a great, uniform, pitiless
system of instruction. The article re-
ferred to concludes as follows: owe
know nothing of the requirements, or
the hours Of work Of the Cleveland schools
but the natural presumption is that they
do not differ greatly from those adopted
elsewhd re. There is too much at stake
for h4edlessness to be permissible
here. 1t is the duty of every
officer of health or education Of every
physician, and Of every parent to look
into this matter and see how things are
going in every city and town. Investi-
cations are now on foot in Minneapolis
which will determine the relations be-
tween health and education there. SINH
lar inquiries must be instituted every
where. If there is nothing wrong they
can ref ect upon nobody, and if there is,
it is hig h time to prevent the children
from purchasing smattering Of all the
sciences at the expense of chronic inva-
lidism.n
While l believe that our public schools
are not answerable for all the i'll health
of their pupils, and that no statistics on
this matter would be complete that
did not show the manner in
which pupils spend their evenings and
their Habits in relation to food, dress.
exercise, it is undoubtedly true that the
opinion is gaining ground that there is
something injurious to health, especially
that of girls, in cur present methods of
schoel management. In my experience
have kIi own four pupils whose health was
underm ined by hard study, but many who
became physical bankrupts by dissipation
and by Yielding to the demands of fashion
and soc iety, and yet l am heartily in
favor Of an investigation and the collec-
ton of such facts as will be the basis of
well grounded judgment in the matter.
The State Board of Health has for some
years be Ell endeavoring to secure the CO.
operation of school authorities in gather
ing vital statistics of all the schools of the
state, like those taken at the naval
and military academies at
Annapolis and West Point. The Secre-
tarv of State, Board of Health in his re-
port of 1879 says: ''These data, when
sufficient observations have been received
will go far to answer questions as to the
physical deterioration of pupils. 1t is
proposed to secure as many school data
in our o wn state, and in others, as posi-
BILE, and to obtain the same data for other
bodies Of men and women in all classes
of our population, for comparison. Es-
pecial attention will be paid to the study
of defective vision, as affected by school
istic methods, and to the influence Of the
m Of Enh
ventilating and seating schoolrooms.
Many defects in these particulars are al
ready recognized, but the best methods
of preventing or removing them are still
unsettled"
sug gest it is worthy Of consideration
whether the vital statistics of our High
school should not be taken from time to
time in accordance with The recommend
alton Of the state Board of Health.
Throughout the country at the present
time discussions are rife upon the best
methods of giving our youth training in
the manual arts. That the welfare of the
nation demands trained hands Jas well as
disciplined minds is generally conceded,
and that work in this direction can be
most efficiently done in connection with
the public schools, but in what way, to
what extent, at what stage of the pupils
advance ment, and by whom this train
ing shall be gwen, are as yet undeterm-
ined questions, which perhaps can only
be answered by experiment Schools of
technology like the Rennesalaer Polytech-
mic Institute. The Boston Institute of
technology and other technical schools
and the industrial departments of state
universities do not meet the proper
demand. Their work IS the training
of those who are to direct labor, and they
do not give us generation of skilled
artiZans Our own university IS attempt