The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-07-15

much as an ordinary Sunday congre-
| cation.
Then comes the period Of Judgment
and comparison. The child, full Of cur
iosity, wants 10 know the why and
the wherefore of this and that. mo
child whose curiosity is throttled and
| starved will ever become 10 good rea-
soner. He must first ask questions and
reasons of others, in order to be able
to ask questions and reasons of him
self"
A well organized course OF study
must be in harmony with these pro-
cesses OF development Some years
ago four teachers in the city of Paris
| asked permission of the Minister of
| Education that each of them might
give his twenty-five pupils the same
| studies as were prescribed in the reg
| ular course, but in a different order,
such as they believed 10 accord better
with the natural development of a
boys mind. These boys completed the
| studies prescribed In three and one
half years instead Of the seven years
| assigned in the prescribed program.
All the arithmetic taught in our schools
| for a period of seven or eight years
could be better taught in the three
years between seven and ten years Of
age. Instead of muddling the child's
mind by such dawdling processes as
are now in vogue there would be an
alertness in seeing through arithmet-
ical problems and rushing through the
work that are desirable results OF
school training, as well as a saving OF
time for some important studies now
crowded out.
The effect of fatigue upon the phys
ical and mental development is one Of
the most important recent discoveries.
Fatigue Is a physical poison, and bod
lily fatigue always induces mental IA
tigue. Overstrain al school, by pro-
ducing fatigue, may be the occasion OF
such destruction and disintegration Of
bodily tissue as to cause serious and
permanent mental defect The best
period Of the day for physical and mem
tai vigor Is between a. m. and 1O:l5
a. m. The heaviest school work should
be assigned to the hours when the
child's mind acts most vigorously. Be-
cause Of disregard OF these faces in re-
gard to fatigue, not day passes in a
city like Chicago. that some child Is
rot made helpless cripple in some Of
the large stamping works and canning
factories. After working under con-
slant pressure for several hours the
child become so weared that he can
no longer direct the tired fingers and
aching arms with any degree Of accur-
acy. and he becomes the easy prey OF
the jaws of the great machine.
Defects of vision increase from
grade to grade with the increase of
school work. The teacher may rot al
ways detect the defect in the pupils
eyes, but by simple tests an expert
would recognize what was wrong in
the child's eyesight. Eleven per cent
of the children in the public schools
Of Illinois have been found to have
defective vision. So with hearing. Dull
children, in most cases, suffer from de-
fective hearing. If stupid scholar
has an open mouth and a drawn down
face there may be adenoid growths in
the vault of the pharynx that a surgeon
could easily remove. Nineteen per cent
of the pupils in the public schools of
Illinois have defective hearing in one
or both ears. Children thus affected
have been accused of being lazy and
inattentive, when the fault was in the
ears.
The last point made in the magazine
article from which these facts and sug-
sestions have been summarized Is that
in all education we should follow the
path of least resistance. "Suppose
that YOU have dynamo with four
strands of wire. copper, German silver,
STEEL zinc. Which wire will conduct
most Of the current from the gen.
orator? The copper wire, of course.
Then why insist that the current must
be conducted by the German silver
wire? You burn out and ruin your dy-
namo, for the electric current will fol-
low the path of least resistance. Why
not use the same common sense in the
case of children"
What would you say of a manufac-
turer, who knew every pulley, joint and
rod of his intricate machinery, but did
not pay any attention to the kind of
cotton he bought, whether sea island.
short fibre or long staple? The strain
Of school work affects children Of poor
physical development very differently
from what 1t does children of sound
bodily constitution. The nervous svs-
TEN Of the child differs very materially
from the nervous system Of the adult.
1t is excltable, under feeble, inhibitory
control. The sources OF rife irritation
in the child are many. and the nerve
centers discharge their force more
readily and faithfully than in the
adult. The nervous systems Of many
children are also suffering from mall
and they are not capable Of
doing the work of their grade, II age
only be taken into account. Some
children of feeble physical development
should be placed In a grade lower than
that to which their age and general
Intelligence would assign them. II not,
under the strain Of school work they
may develope chorea, hysteria, or
some other form Of neurosis. Among
the important considerations In the hy-
gIene of the school room Is plenty Of
fresh air. For when we speak OF school
work as the cause OF disease, We mean
not only brain work, but all that Is
in the environment as
well as the curriculum OF the schol-
ars, examinations, rest periods, public
display OF precociOus that is, abnormal,