The sun., 1904-06-26
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
THE INTERESTING THEORIES or
A TEACHER FROM BOSTON,

They Should Have Gardens for the Cilil.
dren. and Space to Play Games In, and
Apparatus. and Benches for the
Parents-Future Citizens Made There
School play grounds are not big enough
In nine cases out of ten, so Joseph Leo Of
Boston told the National Conference OF
Charities and Correction at Portland, Me-,
last week. Mr.. Lee impaired lot Of other
information about Fairgrounds.
"The overwhelming opinion Of the gram
mar schoolmasters in Boston, he said, SIS
In favor OF retaining the outdoor re cess.
and it Is difficult to watch children durin z
recess without believing that 1t supplies q
real want.
but how big is schoolyard Playground
In Boston the size varies from nothing up
to a f1fty-nine square feet for each child, the
average being about nineteen square feet
The minimum size prescribed by the Eng
lish Board Of Education is thirty square
feet per child; and my observation and
the testimony of the Boston teachers lead
me to believe that this figure is about right,
although the London schools, in practice,
generally allow forty feet. For primary
schools the minimum size might possibly
be little smaller. Thirty square feet per
child makes l,452 children to the acre.
'For these older boys. who have a way OF
standing along the fence, have thought
that probably some kind Of game suited
to their years and dignity ought to be intro
duced; an innovation which would con-
siderably increase the necessary number
Of square feet per boy nd bring the
necessary average amount in grammar
schools up to thirty feet.
II am not 80 sure about the girls. They
have less Of the humping and yelling in
stinct and in their case a greater provi-
sion for games may be good, provided the
games are sufficiently frivolous; II care Is
taken, that Is to say, not to appeal to the
girls morbid instinct for law and order
And yet perhaps the walking in groups
and whispering-nature's prescription after
q very early age-may be the best.
Practical consideration is In favor OF
school gardens. When the school COM
mittee is taking piece Of land, 1t might a.
well. first as last, get it large enough
for both purposes. About AZ feet by1s
feet or thereabouts would be enough for
each child's garden-say Is square feet per
child, including the paths between. So
that besides the 30 square feet for play,
children in these grades need an additional
rs feet for gardens.
The playground needs the school almost
as much As the school needs the plav-
ground, for certain reasons Of q practical
and obvious sort. 1t requires, for in
stance, drinking water and the SAINT ary
arrangements, a place to store playthines
and apparatus, an indoor place for quiet
games and occupations In summer-for no
child can take strenuous phyaioal exercise
for ten hours O day In hot weather-and
above all, shade. An advantage OF the
schoolyard as a playground is that the
school site chosen Is place that the chill
dren can get to, and ID presumably as cheap
as any place in the neighborhood that will
answer this requirement..
Besides the schoolyard, two other kinds
OF playg grounds must be provided, pref
erably combined at the saIne point-the
outdoor gymnasium and the ball field. These
should be family Fairgrounds, including
benches and bleaohers for the fathers
and mothers who look, on; They ought TO
include. also, the school gardens Of the
neighboring soho OILS, and be otherwise,
by means OF flowers and shrubs round
the edges, made to look a little less hideous
than It IL generally considered necessary
for the city playground 10 look
But whether thus combined or not,
the outdoor gymnasium, should inclu de
playground for running games, and
should have in II only such apparatus as
II IL found In practice that the boys actually
use The boy Of the Big Injun' age must
have . teacher ON the pla yground-not
for the sake Of discipline; grown-ups are
40 Aoft 70 be Of any use for that purpose