Arizona republican., 1898-01-11
MENTAL FATIGUE IN CHILDREN.

The increase of nervous diseases under the conditions of modern civil lization is a factor in the welfare of the race which cannot be ignored. That it should engage the atteni ian of physicians and scientists is inowit- able; and the discovery of causes must of course precede the application Of remedies The bureau of education at Washington has been carrying on an Investigation of the effects of men, tai fatigue upon school children. It is obvious that if the increase of ner vous diseases is to be checked a be- ginning must be made with the young; since in such ailments an ounce of prevention is worth most emphatically a pound of cure. Some remarkable scientific instruments are used in testing the subjects of the experiments carried on by the board. It was found by means of one of these that mental exertion causes the breathing to grow slower, thus giving the blood less oxy- gen and impoverishing it. Another instrument shows with what speed the brain can act upon the muscles. A third is described as kind of ''brain cyclometer,' to test rapidity of thought. Such devices indicate the surprising minuteness and exactness which scientific investigation has reached
 Nevertheless easier and simpler ways of noting the effects of mental fatigue may give us information quite as valuable. It can readily be under stood that children are less capable of prolonged mental effort than aduI,s and that consequently our systems of education should Hot ignore this fact. Whether fatigue is the result of a chemical process or not, t,s symptoms are quickly discoverable. Observa in shows, for example, that the minds of about thirty-five minutes of work, ard that those of boys tire sooner than those of girls. How far such con- alterations as these govern the work ing of our schools is then a1 impor- tant question. The superintendent of schools in New York has admitted that the existing methods may be something less than idea. "It is no doubt true," he says, that to a great extent the tendency lately has been to push children rather fast in their studies. Children nowadays are ex- pected to know more at eight years than old time boys and girls of ten or twelve"
 It is not necessary to advocate the restriction of education to 4'the three R.'s" as the sole alternative to push ing children 'rather fast" The fallacy which underlies much of what passes for education is the belief that culture is knowledge rather than wisdom. In cher words, the brain is overburdened with detailed information rather than expanded with the power to acquire information. No doubt we have inn proved methods of teaching and bet ter text books in these days than our fathers had. But the statistical fash ion of imparting facts is still too much in vogue,. In fact, children are taught 10 memOrize rather than to think. The end aimed at is dimly appre- hendad by them, and education be- comes burden rather than a pleasure. It is true that the field of knowledge is so vast that it induces a desperate energy to cover as large a portion of it as possible. Bue we are not sure that the smattering of culture which results is so very much better than ignorance.