Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1884-03-21

IDr. D. Joy Jcfrics in "Our Eyes and our indus.
trics.'1
School timo and school hours have been
much considered and, when so always with
the result Of both being short ned. Our eli
mate hero In Massachusetts, has boon too lit
tic regarded, in apportioning both school
time and school hours. Harvard University
was forced, from the sickness and not infre-
quent deaths in September to give up this
month, and found that attempts at work af-
ter the middle of June were time thrown
away. Now, II this is true of young men
from seventeen or eighteen to twenty-one or
twenty-five, is il not equally true Of school
children from five to seventeen? As a pro.
fessional man have had to watch many chill
dren, and 1 have talked with many teachers
who felt free to tell me the real truth and
my firm belief is, that tho whole work Of ex-
hibitions and the preparations for them, com
ing as they do at the end of the winters la
Dor and in the hottest weather. are nothing
bat a waste Of time, brains and money, and
q very large factor in breaking down the
physical condition of the scholars which
prepares them for the evil effects OF the
causes influencing their eyosight.
am quite ready to meet the storm Of in
dignaton this will arouse, because | can
speak from personal knowledge ond expert
enoe, and because l well know who are my
opponents. These latter are the teachers
who are DESTROYS Of showing off their classes,
which is practically throwing dust in the eyes
of supervisors, school committees, etc. Then
there are the whole classes of parents who
thirst for their chldren's notoriety, and who
besiege the schoolroom doors long before
they are open on exhibition days. These are
a nuisance and a curse to the sensible hon
est teachers, SO many Of whom feel the alb
surdity Of this whole exhibition business, and
nv Nhprongbl,v opbofnad ~ hnI bn
powerless to stem the current, and yield from
very fear Of loss of place or employment.
just before this exhibition work is commence
ed in the hot weather, and after which no
more is learned, let the children be sent
home to 20 to the country or seashore or
even roam the streets and haunt the public
baths, and they will como back in infinitely
better condition to stand the next years
work.
In our climate children from five to seven
teen can study, and study hard, under proper
direction and restriction, for about nine
months in the year. The other three in sum
mer are a waste of time and a very great
waste Of physical condition, without which
they cannot study at all. The extra strain
and wear and tear from the preparation for
examinations and exhibitions in the heat OF
June and July are also added to by the most
absurd and hurtful custom of forcing the
children TO begin again the first Monday In
September. No private school could exist
where it was attempted, and private schools
exist because this is required by the public
ones. l am naturally referring to city schools
and city life and because in these all exam
iners have found the worst hygienc condi.
tions affecting the eyesight. In Brussels the
schools are dismissed when the glass stands
at So. Now, the first fortnight in Septom-
Der is pretty sure to be the most unendura.
BILE of the summer, exhausted az we are by
the previous heat. The whole of this last
September was fearful tax on scholars and
teachers, but am pleading only for the for.
mer. No schools should open before the
middle Of September here in Massachusetts,
An earnest and faithful teacher told me that
the month was thrown away even in the high
or classes, and interest lost in the new stud
les just being entered on which required ex-
ira exertion and more branwork. speak
with all due consideration, aud as a medical
man, when l say that the first fortnight Of
September takes away from the children a
large part Of the benefit they have got from
the summer vacation. This tapplies still
more to the poorer classes, who cannot es-
cape the heat and from whom must be ever
recruited our industrial material