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

N private school it was decided to do
away with home study altogether. An
hour of study was included in the regular
four school hours. 1t was found that dur
ing a whole term about month was
lost, but when the time lost under pre-
, vious rules, resulting from illness from
overwork, dullness of brain from fatigue.
and lack of interest in study from too
close and long application, was taken into
account, it was seen by the teachers, aft
er a years experiment. that the children
were the actual gainers-and home study
is now abolished altogether by that
school. Thus the new method has proved
an aid instead of hindrance
! The'evil of night study. or of afternoon
study at the expense of play hours in the
open air, cannot be overcome by early
morning study, for study before partak-
1 ing of food in the morning is one of the
most injurious practices TO a growing
Child, while if study is persisted in after
breakfast the mind is tired before it
4 reaches its work in the scnoolroom. In
amy event. the child who Grams his brain
in the morning just before recitation, and
tEen recites parrot-fashon, cannot be
said to have learned his lessons.
!
Nor can home study be excused on the
ground, which is too often advanced, that
the child has the assistance of father or
mother. Methods of instruction have so
ichanged in the past generation that the
assistance of parents in the lessons of
their children as often confuses as it
helps them. And it is likewise a grave
lquestion whether a lesson learned by a
Ichild with the assistance of a parent does
mot engender the habit of a dependence
upon others. To explain everything to a
Ichild, and to remove all difficulties from
his path, is. TO say the least question
able proceeding. What we learn our
selves we remember longest, and that
holds just as true with the child as il
does with us of maturer growth.
The solution of the home-study question
lis simple enough when common sense is
applied to it. No child under fifteen years
iof age should be given any home study
Whatever by his teachers. He should
have not more than from one hour to four
lof schooling each day, the hours increas-
ing with his years. Outside of school
lhours he should have at least three hours
of play. Even where the necessities of
1.-THE family call for the assistance of the
children in domestic work it is wise
me Their who so adjusts the home machin-
lery that her child can have three hours
lof play and freedom for the natural ex-
lpression of his spirits.
4 After fourteen the brain has another pc
lr.od of rapid development, with special
increase of the higher faculties. If too
lmuch strain has not been put upon brain
land body during the previous years, then
the child begins to learn with beneficial
leffects. Four hours of schooling, then, is
mot too much, provided the child's physi-
Zeal being is capable of it, and in time an
hour of isolated study may be added
but that is enough. Five hours of brain
work day Isl the most that We should
TASK of our children. The mind cannot re-
main fresh after that strain. And even
then study during evening hours should
be positively prohibited, and the hour OF