Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-19
EARLY SCHOOLIN G.
PREMATURE EDUCATION DOES
MORE HARM THAN GOOD.


In Switzerland, which shares with Scot
land the distinction of being the best-edu-
Gated country In the world. the earliest
school age is seven. The magic number
may be noted. for we must revert to IL
In this too frequently misguided land the
attendance at school of our children is
compelled at the age of five and encouraged
between the years Of three-three,-and
five. But it is now reported that the board
of education proposes to withdraw its
grants for the education of children be
tween three and five. If this most tardy
piece of sapience be realized. We may be
sure that parents Will no longer be encour-
aged to send their children to school at
these ridiculous ages This question has an
important financial bearing. no doubt as
regards rates and school accommod a ton
but l am here concerned merely with the
physiology of the matter. For If the state
errs grievously In this direction, does
the individual parent; the fault In each
case being due to entire neglect of the
most obvious facts of child life. How many
parents who read these lines would be I'M
ashamed to record the possession of six
year-old unable to read? l should dearly
love to know. Let US now consider some
of the very simple facts.
Risk of Disease.
But. in the first place, let US note one ac-
cidental consequence of our collective ac-
ton in this matter. This is the immense
facility which our action insures for the
spread of infectious disease. We take chill
dren at the most susceptible ages-also the
ages at which these diseases are most likely
to be falkland expose them to the risk
of mutual infection. Notably is this the
case as an NJ O II. has recently observed
with measles. which is thus enabled to kill
as many children as smallpox. diphtheria
and gastric fever put together" The great
1Sl loo in hi -nf1- of f,afl
slaughter is whoopfng cough. If child
went TO school below the age OF six years
at least there is no doubt whatever that
the tremendous mortality from these and
other diseases which lose their power with
the age of the subject would be astonish-
ingly diminished But, important though
these considerations are they are subsid-
larry to the main thesis of this article,
which is.that it injurious and disastrous
to attempt to educate a child of three
four l use the word educate. of course,
in the almost imbecile sense of ordinary
speech.
This thesis may be maintained a poste-
rior by consideration of the actual results
observed. One might quote the practically
universal experience of teachers, that the
child which begins its education at six
has way of rapidly overtakng and out
stripping the child which began at three.
One might quote the many instances in
which the encoura cement OF precocity has
been disastrous. One might quote the IL
lustrious example of Herbert Spencer. who
of John Stuart Mill, who started
Greek at three and paid the penalty in
nervous twitching of the face, which per-
sisted throughout his life. But l would
rather appeal to the educatonist and the
parent on a priori grounds. Let us look
at the developing brain. and see what our
study of its facts would lead us to expect
regards its capacities
Brain Incomplete.
Now, the remarkable fact is this, that the
mere material or anatomical structure OF
the human brain is not complete until
about the age of seven years. Thereafter
1t merely grows, without undergoing any
anatomical change visible to us, but until
that date the brain is not fully formed.
Further let us note the order of its forma-
ton which is exactly the order that a be-
lief In evolution would enable US to pre-
dict So definite and orderly is the man
ner in which the different parts of the
brain are formed that the anatomist uses
the observation of this sequence as means
for determining the identity and distinct
ness of various nerve tracts. which cannot
subsequently be distinguished Now it Is
as might be expected, precisely what
Haeckel calls the phronema, the part of
the brain concerned with intellectual oper-
atoms as distinguished from the part con-
trolling the muscles and other organs, that
is the last to develop, and this is a fact
which should be remembered In connection
with the axiom that one must not strain a
grOWing-Or, petter. d ueNeIOpAiie-
Would that two years could be taken from
the beginning of the school term and added
at the other end, that the child of thir-
teen or fourteen who is just beginning to
discover the interest of his lessons at that
age might have chance to learn in two
wears then as much as twenty children can
learn between the years of three and five,
or five and seven.
The conviction that we begin the 'educa-
tiou'' of our children too soon is really part
of the rising protest against premature
specialization. They are finding on the
continent for instance, despite the practice
of James Mill. that by far the greatest sue
cess follows the postponement Of Greek till
the twelfth year. Here, as In the case OF
the alphabet with the younger child, it is
found that the premature attack on any
subject is not really start but a handi-
cap Indeed. 1t surely seems reasonable
that any subject which excites Intellectual
nausea In healthy and intelligent child Is
being prematurely attacked. Surely 1t Is
reasonable to suppose that the true critic
rion of childs fitness for a subject is the
excitement of an appetite for it. For upon
intellectual nausea there follows intellec-
tual indigestion.
Rowe Hines, son of John Hines of VAL
leS district near Elkns, w. Va, was in-