Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-10-27
AN OLD-TIME INSTITUTION THREAT
ENID.

It appears that there is an increasing
disposition in this country to eliminate
from our common school system the school
recess. 1t has been tried in Rochester, n.
Y. and, the report is, '' with perfect salts
faction" That may appear for time, but
it is a movement in the wrong direction.
All such economy of time is, in the end, a
waste, and there must result serious injury
to the Juvenile population. 1t is claimed
for the new idea that by continuous
school session there is less interruption in
school work non-exposure of the children
to cold and wet weather /; better discipline,
less tardiness more time for teachers, and
lessening of the opportunities for vicious
pupils TO meet with and corrupt other
pupils. These are sounding excuses, and
the accomplished benefits, if true, are de.
sirsble. But we do not believe they are
true. Until the new system has been
tried some years, no proof of real merit
can be established. The usual recess breaks
a school session into proper measures of
time, and better fits the pupil for mental
effort. We must not alone teach children,
develop the intellectual part, train the
mind, but a part of the school sYs-
TEN must embrace recreation that
develops the physical also. All the
gymnastic and calisthenic exercises imagin-
able cannot fully take the place of "play."
The recess gives opportunity not only for
physical exercise, but for mental relaxation,
and for thess there is no compensation in
"lessened Interruptions with school work,
etc. Joseph Carter, in the November num-
Der of the Popular Science Monthly, exam
ines the subject at great length, and from
3 physiological standpoint, and comes to
the conclusion that to abandon the school
recess will result in greater effeminacy, a
lowering of the standard of animal strength
and consequent physical harm, the effects
of which will be shown in due time in
deteriorating generations. He protests
warmly against the tendency to indoor
pursuits, the drift of population toward
cities, and the disposition to make educa.
tion shelter.tent against physical exer-
tion. Our mode of civilization, he says,
tends 10 form troglodytic hapits-that is,
to withdraw from the light, to dwell in
cavernous retreats, to avoid outdoor pur-
suits. Now, one of the aims of school life
should be to counseract this tendency.
Instead of inclining the child to sit
out school sessions, to love the
house interior; instead of cultivating
distaste for open air, and all and any kinds
of weather, we should stimulate desire
for frequent relaxation, for outdoor expo
sure, for muscular action, for this latter is
a necessity to healthful young child.
Muscular action is dictate of nature, and
the appetite for it should be encouraged,
and we sgree heartily with Mr.. Carter
when he declares that no school discipline
should be allowed to interfere with its
necessary qualification. Some teachers have
substituted for the recess indoor games,
marchings, ETC.; but, as the essayist re-
marks, the best of such exercises fall very
far short of the real soul.stirring, cheek
glowing, muscle and brain-making exercise
of the play ground. 1t is a fact that the
martial-ike gymnastic exercises are trying
TO the teachers, and that pupils always seek
to escape from them. To them they are
neither recreation nor rest. School gym
nastics are like camp drilling, the severest
part of military life. You cannot manage
q child's play. Management and discipline
take all the edge and zest from it. If book.
Earning stimulates the tendency to