The Republican journal., 1892-03-17

be pauperized nor the States bounty be
What shall be done for those children
whose attendance at school at the best is
only nominal, and whose parents are too
weak or too wicked to aid in making it
better? More rigid laws regarding absent
ism are Imperative.
Some officer must be empowered to en-
ter such homes and compel the regular
attendance at school of all such children
as can safely be admitted to ordinary
school advantages. He should have au-
thority to take possession of such as can
not be safely admitted to the public
school and withdraw them from the con-
troll of their parents For such children
the parental school is the only solution Of
the problem that appears possible. Mem
bership should be compelled in such a
home or school UNTIL if possible, a relish
shall have been acquired for better things.
Such work will be discouraging and ex-
pensive, but it will be worth a thousand
times its cost to the pupils and to the
State
The absolute right of every child to so
much of its childhood as is necessary fol
school purposes should. in our land and
time be regarded as an axiom. and any
custom. law OF precedent which stands in
the way of giving this right practical
force must give way.
Papers on manual training were read
and discussed at the evening session, but
the newspaper reports afford nothing fol
quotation. This is to be regretted as the
subject is one of much interest. and is
becoming of local interest, as at least
one manual training school has been es-
tablished in Maine.
At the closing days session of the Asso-
citation DR.. G. Stanley Hall, President OF
Clark University, Worcester, Mass, de-
livered carefully prepared paper on the
subject. He described at some length the
school buildings of foreign countries,
their lighting and ventilation, the arrange
ments of the stairs, and even the colors
used in decorating the walls. He quoted
statistics to show the results of bad SAM
tary arrangements in class rooms. Some
Of the most common diseases among
school children We're headache. curvature
of the spine, diseases of the stomach and
eyes, and, most important of all, various
nervous affections. He said the school,
more than the home. should be in place
of health. The site of the school house
should be high and dry. There should
be no ponds in the neighborhood. Speak
II, I,1l i
that one writer had said that the seat was
the American contribution to education.
Laughter. What was wanted was that
the body be held with the least effort and
in the most hygienic position. 1t was i'm
possible to make an average which would
tit all children, In Paris they now had
hygenic inspection which he believed
was unprecedented
DR.. Hall described the writing position
which he said was one of the utmost nv
gienic importance. Much depended on
the position of the book Book straight.
letters straight. body straight" was the
maxim which expressed the correct idea
of position The book, according to gen
eral opinion, should be in the middle. but
there was difference of opinion whether
it should be tipped or not The surface
Il
reading he said the problem was to get a
letter which would give the greatest
amount of legibility to the square inch.
in the forms of one or two letters-the
\. p. and O. In conclusion. Dr. Hail
said that several facts We're important
/. 1t was own from careful observa-
ton that the average child grows rather
MOI al II. 1f
years preceding and the two following.
That from b to II the growth was a
great deal more rapid than at any other
period. That at 10 the child almost stop
ped growing for year During the peri
cd OF rapid growth there was far less like
lihood of disease than at any other time
The growing years We're most favorable
for all education which does not require
strain.
,. 1t was quite clear that the child
grew tall in the spring and summer thick
in the late summer and fall, and that
there was a period of two months in win
ter when he scarcely grew at all.
3. During the growth the child did not
grow evenly in all directions. Sometimes
all the energies of growth seemed to CEN
ire on certain functions.
=
o clock was for the normal child the time
most favorable for mental effort There
was also Il high tide in the afternoon.
One eXperimenter testified that there
was difference of 80 per cent. in the
labor which could be done in the rested
and in the fatigued period.
From these four facts it could be seen
how much education should be based up
on the nature of the child, how the school
could cultivate apathy or zest, and how
everything should be tested in the ideal
school for a standard of health.
A number Of questions were asked of
DR.. Hall in regard to things which had
not been touched upon in his paper. In
response to these questions he said that
he thought there was no question of
value of the midsession, open air recess.
Concerning the school bath, he said that
in Prussia they made computation which
showed that if every public bath was kept
going, and eight minutes were given for
each bath each member of the population
would be able to get a ba tn once in 800
years. Laughter. The school bath has
been adopted in Prussia. The standing
douche was the most approved plan.
In response to a question about G rls 60
ing up and down stairs, DR.. Hall said that
he thought springy step of not too great
rapidity was desirable.
Superintendent Marble of W orcester,