The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-06-14

| ing short of the most thorough draining
should be tolerated, since vegetable mat
ter decomposed by the sun and standing
water gives rise to chills and fevers D
| various kinds. The best authorities art
unanimous in the opinion that the shape
| of the school room should be obong. The
ratio of the length to the breadth should
| be as to 8. never less than to 2, anc
never more than to l. The height Of
ceiling recommended should be never less
than IL feet and never more than Is, if
the room is very large, the dimensions be-
ing determined by the quality of light
that can be admitted and uniformly dis
tributed all over the room.
ct is not necessary for a casual OBJ
server to refer to medical experts to learn
that enough attention has not been paid
to the proper construction and lighting
of a school room Walk into the average
school room three hours after work be
gins Count the number of children
whose eyes are squinted, almost closed,
trying to adjust themselves to the bane-
full conditions; see the number that are
shading their eyes with their hands, or
dropping their heads down in order to
secure some relief, look into some remote
corner and observe the number with di-
lated eyes, an intense gaze, straining to
receive sufficient hght-all this from a
little child whose eye is never taxed ten
minutes at time before entering school
room.
1.-THE light should be admitted from the
left of the student and as high as pos
sible from above When it is admitted
from the front, the glare is directly in
the face; if it falls from behind the
shadow of the head is thrown directly
upon the pages if from the right, the
shadow of the arm and head in the act
Of writing, equally obscures it. Experts
Of all countries-Germany Austria,
Italy, Ireland, France, Sweden, England
and America agree on this one point The
amount of light well distributed will de-
pend upon the height and width of the
room The English rule is that any seat
"a feet from the window is insufficiently
lighted rought calculation from
research made on the subject shows that
there should be for every $50 cubic feet of
room space about l cubic foot of window
space; and the color of the walls should
be straw color or light brown.
The next division of the subject is
the effect of the appearance Of the school
room and school buhulng, and its sur
roundings-u the moral and aesthetic
growth of the child. 4 hold it as fun
damental truth that no child should be
taught in any room that is less decent
than his home. This should be the care
of every community; for we have in our
public school system the greatest oppor-
tunity to carry a love for order and de-
cency into every home. Every teacher
knows if you place rickety, ill-used desk
before boy it is only a question of a few
weeks when he will tear it up. Every
teacher knows, too, how readily each little
child responds when she speaks of beau
tifying the school room. The windows,
the doors, the walls, the grounds all speak
to the inner soul Of little child. and
the expression of this silent voice deter
mines whether they shall be mutilated, or
whether they shall be beautified, for there
is something within the soul that is
drawn out to harmonic with the environ
ment."
PROF LINEBERRY'S ADDRESS.
In his address on BEST System of Gov
eminent for Dormitories." Prof. G. E.
Lineberry, said:
With the new educational life has
come changes. Many old systems and no
items have passed away. Now we have
beautiful grounds and generally in them
boarding schools dormitories.
Il am asked to be dogmatic and say
what is the best system. 1 viii not try
to do this, but only discuss some sys-
tens pointing out the strong and weak
features. Some of our best schools use
the family system of boarding, and its adj
vantages are in giving a home life and
close parental contact in that home But
all families are not ideal ones. In some
you find Epicureans who believe that of
making books there is no end and much
study ls a WEAKNESS of the flesh Under /
such influences students become careless |
and indolent.
They often have no system for the /
children to be governed by and the aid |
they often give develops parasites rather
than independent thinkers.
Then you will find dormitories not un- |
der the control of the teacher. Here the |
teacher has some choice about who keeps /
the dormitory and generaIly makes some
regulations to be observed there. The |
students are more collected, but if there is |
no teacher with them they will be hard |
TO control. The more you have together |
the harder it Will be to control the unruly /
ones. If you have both boys and girls in
the same building the social feature will |
be hard to manage. Then we have
system with separate buildings for boys /
and girls and each presided over by
teacher. This has many advantages. The /
teacher can incorporate the strong points |
OF home life being the ideal parent lie
has too much to do to look after the |
boarding feature, but rather should give
his entire attention to the discipline of
the Home or Dorrhitory. They should have
regular hours for recreation, meals, study /
and sleep. This viii best protect the |
health and enable the mind to be deyel- |
oped as it should be.
''Thc teachers are generally the most |
cultured people Of the community and the
children receive grea benefit by this close |
life contact. We need no more uncul- |
tured book worms. Children going home !
cultured and refined will help to improve |
their community and point 4e youths TO
a higher and nobler life. Many of our
best patrons refuse to send children where
they can not be under the close s1IDn1,vie-