Morning journal and courier., 1889-12-23
TOO MUCH WORK.
A Claim That This is so in she Public SchoOls-Dircful R osuls.
 From the Philadelphia Times1

A Claim That This 1s so In she Public
 schools-Direful Result.
 [From the Philadelphia Times.l
 Let any one take the trouble, as we have ion of "cramming" the children of the public schools is having, and he will come to the conclusion, as we have also done, that it is time somebody called a halt. We sincerely believe that the board of education is over taxing both the mental and the physical strength of the pupils. and that a reconsider ation of the prescribed course of study and 8 reduction of the number of text books would result in better health for the children, bet- ter lessons and more material progress.
 This is not the first time we have had something to say on this subject, and 1t will not be the last. More than that, nobody has better right to say it. Whya For very good reasons; no one person meets and talks with more children than we do; no one un- derstands them better, and no one is Q better friend to them. We earnestly desire their them strong in body and vigorous in mind, and every day of our life is given up to work in their behalf.
 Therefore, we say, we have right to speak for them in this manner of their school du- ties.
 If you, madam, or sir, have son or 6 daughter who complains of multiplicity of books and burdensome lessons, do not de- ceive yourself by thinking it an individual case and attributing it to some particular disinclination of the child to study. If you, as the mother, will take little time from your household and social duties, and your church and sewing societies, and you, as the father, from your business and, perhaps, your club, a very brief examination of your child's school bag will open both your physi- cal and your mental eyes. Did they "eram" you that way when you were young! Did they give you so many lessons that you had to begin pouring over your books the minute you came back from the school room, with barely little time intervening in which to snatch bite of luncheons
 And when evening came, and the lamps were lighted in the sitting room, did you have to take up those inevitable books again, and study, study, study, until your eyes burned and your brain was all worn out with the interminable strains
 No, you did not Our fathers were wiser than we are. They had in view the needs of the body as we'll as those of the mind, and no boy or girl was required to perform school tasks that deprived them of all physi- cal recreation.
 We know of scores of instances where ohildren's eyes have been seriously affected by night study. And when the question was asked, Why study at nights the answer came: We cannot possibly get our lessons without it, and not only that, but we have to study in the afternoon too. In many cases children have been taken from school altogether because their general health was giving way under the severe tax to which l they were subjected. We are not Haunting red flag of alarm we are telling what we know to be true; How long is it to go on?
 | Of course 1t is all done with the best in- tentions; no one would question that. But l are not those intentions defeated by the very ! course that is designed to carry them out' Does it need an argument to prove that a child will make more progress mentally with fewer tasks, if it be given time to master them thoroughlya Why have an imposing array of text books merely to give the pupil a smattering of each:
 l It seems to us that the remedy for this great evil is very simple: Reduce the mum. Der of text books; be satisfied with carrying the young mind along at moderate but sure gait; let the studying be done at schoo and not at home, and thus permit the child to give it's time out of the class room te healthfu1 recreation. -4....- =. Why can't this be dones