The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-09-29

viii dispute the assertion Men of COM
mon sense know that night work after
day OF business is vitality injurious. Yet
in their own homes is presented almost
every evening the sublime picture of chill
dren porting from one TO two hours over
lessons for the next day. And while the
lesson is to the child exactly what the
business problem is to the man, we warn
men of mature growth against the very
thug which We allow children to do.
What a superbly consistent people we are.
| to be sure
The merest novice in meltal science
knows that the last work given the brain
tC do often continues to exercise it dur
ing sleep. And yet there are thousands
Of mothers and fathers throughout this
enlightened land of ours who wonder why
their children toss themselves about in
bed, why they humble and talk in their
sleep. why they are frightened in their
dreams. and why they so afraid of
the dark. Now, all these are simply the
results of unsettled nervous conditions. Is
IL any wonder that children have to be
called over and over again in the morn
ing, and that they at length rise unre-
freshed and without appetites for their
breakfasts? When are parents going to
open their eyes to this fearful evil? Are
they as blind as bats, that they do not
sec what is being wrought by this crown
ing folly of night study? Is all the book
learning in the world worth this inevi-
table weakening of the physical and men
tai powers?
oh" but say our educators, eve do
not give children home lessons until they
reach certain grades. And then we regu-
late their study periods. More than two
hours of home study in any grade is for
b,cden. We do not allow it, Allow it?
BAH How can hours regulate a child 5
study? What one child will learn in one
hour another may he unable to absorb in
three, And if a child has certain lessons
to learn, and is slow to conquer them,
does he regulate the study by the clock
No. no, The fault lies not there: the rem
eGy is not to be found there. 1t is to be
found in refraining from giving child
so much to do True reform always be-
gins at the root of all evils, and the root
OF the evil of home study lies in the
examining system at the school. If 1T is
thought that Independent study at home
is more effective than study in school
! then the school hours must be so short
!, ened as to give the child study hour al
home in the afternoon, so that his play
: hours may not De cssrtGiied. To rob 3
Child of the playtime which belongs tc
him is a rank injustice.
Take the average child between, say
2 seven and fifteen years of age, and wha
: time has he for play? The hours of study
Z vary i'm different schools, but let US take
= the average set of from nine to twelve
= o'clock, and from one to three. 1t /:
quite bit after three before the chile
., can reach home. put away his books ant
be on the playground. In winter ii il
! dark by five. Barely two hours: and car
o any reasonable parent expect health,
{ child to rob himself of one of these TIVE
e hours and give it over to study? Ant
4 after play is the child in a condition t.
( return to his books? Naturally, then, thu
G child waits until the evening hours. whei
!: lie is not allowed to go out.
D 1t is unreasonable to expect a child be
e tween the ages Of seven and fifteen t
= devote more than four hours each day t
school work. and these four hours shoul'
e include an hour of study either at schoo
n or at home, as seems most advisable.
i But educators and parents will say tn
n children cannot learn all they should IL
t such short hours. They can, and trial
e have proved it.
= Last year the Board of Education o
= Greater New York found so great
e pressure on the schools that it was oblig
T ed to take one-half the children from
n o'clock until one, and the other half from
u one until five. A cry went up from TIN
: press and the people that children couit
I never make progress at that rate. Blu
e what was supposed to be an evil proved
e to be a blessing in disguise. The children
r were so much fresher for the shorteI
= hours that they actually accomplished al
: most twice as much as they did with th'
former longer hours.