The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1897-03-18
CHILD STUDY.
Editor Of Columbian :

Phi. d., State Normal School, Man
kato, Mimi, published in the March
No. of Education, contains so much
of importance to teachers and parents
as to deserve all the space it will
occupy in your paper.
WM. NoETLING.
The most valuable feature of the
child-study movement has been not
in the newness of he line of work or
even in the methods employed but in
the fact that we are cooperating in it
as we never before have in anything
affecting education. Teachers have
been studying children and parents
have been studying children for centu-
ries. And surely that idea is not a
new one. But, whereas previously
this teacher studied her children in
this state and that teacher in that,
you yours all alone and l mine all
alone, and the parents were studying
alone, too, at home; now, by means
of our movement, we are combining
our forces and the result is tre-
mendous gam. By ourselves we all
have been making some study of
children. By the cooperation of thou
sands of progressive teachers child
study has gathered together and
weighed our methods and placed
prominently before us those that have
proved themselves most practical and
most advantageous. 1t will continue
so to do. We owe 1t to our fellow
teachers to spread any methods which
we have found to yield particularly
satisfactory results. Nor can we afford
to shut our eyes to this source of
knowledge.
As a result of this cooperation it
suddenly becomes quite generally
known that a considerable percentage
of our children have imperfect eyes.
Suppose you have fifty children in
your room. Do you know that per-
haps dozen Of those boys and girls
have some trouble with one eve or
the other5 DO you know that in
several of these cases at least they
may be suffering from severe nervous
disorders as result Of the strain upon
their eyes and that it is highly proba-
BILE that one or two of them should
consult physician to avoid serious
injury? Again, did you know that
whereas on entering school only about
five per cent Of the children have
certain form Of visual imperfection,
called myopia, on leaving the grammar
grades the number frequently reaches
thirty per cent or more? Now what
are we to do about it2 Test them !;
particularly if you are wondering why
they do not do better work or why
they are so nervous. How? Send
ten cents 10 Prof. w. o. Krohn, Psy
Geological Laboratory of the University
of Illinois, Champaign, Illinois, and
ask him to send you Snellen's Test
Types. See if the children can read
them aolM each eye at the given dis
tances, as they ad5anee toward the
card. You will need for the test of
nearsig ghtedness and astigmatsm the
Test of Vision for Use in Schools,
prepared by James w. Queen, 1910
Chestnut Street, Philadelphia. The
cost for those is twenty-five cents.
The directions which are quite clear
will be found on the back of the card.
If not understood, however, ask any
physician. Until you get these types,
test the children's ability to read writ
ing on the black board. If any child
cannot read it, find out whether it is
the reflection from the black board,
which prevents, or visual imperfection.
Let him read with one eye and then
with the other. Where you find the
visual imperfection evident, urge the
parents to have physician examine
and treat the case. Some children
read with their books somewhat close
to the eyes. Such cases need your
tests and probably physicians.
The type used in our school books,
according to Doctor Cohn, must not
be lie than .o6 of an inch in height,
and the small n not less than .o1 of
an inch wide. The distance between
letters must not be less than Or of an
inch and the distance between lines
not less than L of an inch. Test your
school books and find whether they
are up to this standard or not.
Some of our school-rooms are not
well lighted. Can you tell me exactly
what parts of the black board can be
seen from every seat in the room ?
Why not divide this black board space
into strips of four or FIVE feet and then
check off on some maps of the room
that you have made just the seats for
which that part of the board is useless.
See what effect the curtains have,
when up or down.
So much for the child's sight. In
hearing we get similar results, except
that the hearing does not keep
getting worse through the grades as