New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1883-08-20

expense of their bodies. The fact that there
were as many cases Of brain disease among
children during the decade preceding the
passage Of the Education ACT as there were
during the following decade was cited as an
rrefutable proof that the examining system
If there were any such thing, was not addlng
the pates of the rising generation.
These positive statements are OF high value
because they are based upon the system or
national education as n whole and the general
health of the entire school population. The
structures upon tho evils Of over-pressure,
so often made In the United States as
we'll as in England, are grounded upon
exceptional cases of physical impairment
or mental arrangement. There has been
tendency in recent years to exaggerate the I'M
portance of such instances. Because one COL
legian out of a thousand shoots himself In
moment of abnormal depression, 1t has been
urged that all were the victims of disastrous
forcing process. Because here and there
pale and ghostly valedlctorian. like the I'M
fortunate brother of "Miss Gilberts Career"
pays the penalty of success at college in hectic
flush and premature hemorrhage, the educa-
tional methods now in use have been de-
TEN of exhausting and death-dealing "cram."
The broad congratulations made by Sir Lyon
Playfair serve to correct such rash differences
as these They show that the bygienic aspects
of education are highly satisfactory, inasmuch
as children are decidedly healthier when they
60 to school than they are when they do not.
These vital statistics are as eloquent In their
way as the figures showing that there has been
a steady decrease in juvenile crime in England
since the establishment Of the educational
SYSTEM They indicate that in spite of the
clamor raised against the over-strain OF the
forcing process. the schools are promoting the
ends of public health as we'll as of public
morals.
Mr.. Mundella, in the course of the debate to
which we have been referring, maintained that
the Education Department was doing
its. utmost to avoid the danger
of oyer.prcssure by establishing a
fair average test of scholarship in place of in-
diyidual standards, and by making it an
object for teachers to be thorough in their
work. The grant for n child passing grade
well was two shillings, while only one shilling
was allowed for a child passing ndifferently,
the practical inference of the teacher being
than two badly. Mr.. Mundella argued that
the greatest danger in the English schools
arose from the poverty of the lower classes
whose children were wrctchedly underfed
He stated that teachers in London were some
times forced to send out and buy bread in
order that the pupils under their charge
might be kept up to their work.
This is happily peril to which children in
American public schools are not exposed.
They are not underfed at home, and while
there is room for Improvement in the methods
of instruction. there is a fair degree of thor
oughncss. 1t is mainly in private schools OF
an expensive class that what is known as the
examining system is found, and even there 1t
is the memory rather than the mind that IS
overtaxed. The effort TO acquire little OF a
great many things and to retain that little for
a limited period is less exhausting than Is
generally supposed. 1t makes parrots OF chill
dren But parrots do not suffer in body in
consequence of persistent linguistic practice I;
nor is the health of children necessarily i'm
paired when their memories are unduly exer-
cised without corresponding mental strain.
Still this forcing system Is to be avoided, and
the work of school-children equalized through
out the year. When wisely regulated, edu-
cation must have an excellent hyglenic effect.