National Republican., 1883-06-14
Evils OF Our Public schoo, system

Evils Of Our Public School System.
A number of the valuable papers of tho
tenth or last annual report Of the Michigan
state board of health treat our public school
system as unnatural and cruel, and in many
respects oven fatal, in its results upon both
the mind and body of scholars. One of
their principal objections is to the school
architecture. The buildings arc too high
They insist that these should never exceed
two stories, because experience demonstrates
that climbing stairs to girl children is a cause
of serious evil. Uncomfortable seats, or seats
not adjusted or graduated TO tho proper
heights of children using them, produce cur
yature of the spine, &c. Impaired sight, re-
sulting from the bad adjustment of light,
Sc. Is growing evil. Glasses among
advanced scholars have become almost
as common as among old peo-
pie, and in one of tho high schools of
Michigan . per cent. of the pupils constantly
suffered from impaired vision. The poisoned
atmosphere of crowded. imperfectly heated,
and badly ventilated school rooms and of
unclcan outbuldings and premises, impure
water, poorly laid floors, through which cur
rents Of cold air constantly stream, &c, are
all causes of most painful diseases and suffer-
ing to thousands of children-often of fatal
coughs and colds, scarlet fcver, measles, diph-
liberia, sc.
rl,a Ill e he,
papers are united and emphatic on these
| points. They assert that n large majority of
| the physicians of the country, as also large
number of teachers, parents, and scholars,
unite in the judgment that our graded schools
require too much work of the pupils-too
much both in the number and the character
of the studies. As DIR. Breakey, of Ann Arbor,
contends, the chief business of early childhood
is "to eat, digest sleep, mako tissue, develop
bone and brain and muscle and morals--in
short, to grow" To make growth Systematically
harmoniously. In childhood, the period of
rapid growth the power of nutrition is taxed
in supplying material for the formation Of
! perfect tissues. Besides, the brain and nerves
of a child are oxquisitely delicate.
Nevertheless, under our high pressure sys-
tenn of study" the daily demand is practically
for eight or ten hours of solid study-"say
an average of nine hours "-besides four hours
of recitations, making in all thirteen hours
daily of solid brain work for pupils in the
growing period of their physical powers.
This is unnatural and cruel. The nervous
system and growing frame of tho child are
taxed beyond the powers of maturity, and the
physical and mental forces are weakened.
bright minds are thus rendered stupid"
Tho Rev NJ. w. Fairfield, of Muskegon,
urges eve complain of eleven or even ten
hours of daily muscular labor exacted of the
brawny and toughened laborer, but of grow
ing youth, in the mere gristle we demand
thirteen hours of more exacting and exhaust
ing brain work" He asks, Is it any Won
der that the physical system, and especially
the nervous system, whose headquarters are
in the brain, should give way under such
an cxorbitant demand and prolonged
stran?" Their exhaustion is a necessary
consequence. Thus physical and intellectual
and robust moral health are not only imper-
lied, but often sacrificed, without any coun-
terbalancing advantages. If the cultivation
and support of "a sound mind in sound
body" be the purpose or aim of our school
system, that purpose is defeated, and instead
result ruined minds in wretched bodies--ail
forms indeed of physical and mental disorders
epilepsy cerebral congestion, headache,
undue nervous irrtability, sleeplessness &c.
Excessive studies create weariness and dis
gust in youth 1t creates by reaction a dis
taste for mental or literary pursuits 1t
"blights every flower of genius as it begins to
bud" and distasto for labor, both mental
and physical, becomes "an early disease"
All these evils combined, in the judgment of
an able physician Of great experience, make
our school system, instead of a blessing, ac-
tually "the bane of the nation"
OF course we touch but lightly upon the
HlulllNuuc VI 'duaca anu iiuotiHVioho uiSNu
by learned gentlemen in this report OF the
owls of our school system; but We furnish
enough to attract the attention of all inter.
ested in the education and the health and
happiness of our people, and to evoke oil
stimulate inquiries into matters of such Vita
Importance to the nation.
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