The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1906-05-11

applied to girls, It remains for edu-
Gators to devise means of their correc- !!
tion.
"fn educational matters, the opinion |
of the family physician has much |
weight in community and he should |
make every effort to place school hy-
glene upon a proper scientific basis.
This is one of the public duties which
clearly devolves upon physicians be.
| cause of their special training and it
can not well be relegated to anyone
else.
THE family physician must never
cease to warn parents of the dangers
to which developing girls are expos
ed from over-study, insufficient out of
door life and deficient sleep, and he
must make every effort to obtain as
good physical development as possible
for every girl, knowing that in so
doing he Is also making the best pro-
visions for mental growth and equil-
ibrium.
ut has long been recognized that
the special knowledge acquired by the
serve the cause of education in many
ways, but it is only within compar-
atively recent times that the services
of the physician have been called in
to requisition in any formal or system
attic work of education.
Il would not be understood from
the above that physicians should be-
come politicians, yet his professional
standing should carry sufficient weight
to influence public opinion.
"a great amount of good would re-
suit if our profession in general would
interest itself more in the welfare of
our public school. / am sure no one
will take issue with me wheI | say
that physicians are just as capable OF
filling position on the board of educa-
tion as men of other professions, es-
pecially when one considers that in
school matters the first aim to be pro-
NOTED is the child's physical and men
tai welfare.
"In this connection let me say a
word in reference to the curriculum of
our public schools; possibly | may be
assuming too much when l make the
assertion that it is entirely too iron
clad or inelastic and is very frequent
ly the cause in many girls of physi-
cal retardation and nervous break
down.
mot only does the pupil suffer, but
the teacher seldom escapes the evil
results of overwrought nerves in the
attempt to accomplish all the work
the curriculum calls for.
"The cry of alarm should be sound
ed by the whole medical world in op-
position to this grinding system. The
physician above all others is the one
who should take the initiative step
. Ito overcome this greatest of evils in
5 connection with our public schools
|. because he is the individual who sees
the evil results of unwise education
especially in our girls, as he is the
confidential counselor in many fami,
lies.
IAN educational system should have
two main objects. First, to make a
sound and healthy body; second, the
formation of character through mental
and moral discipline. The Greeks
were wiser than we. They saw that
the proper foundation for mental
training was training of the body. In
our system of education we have here
tofore worked at the top and neglect
ed the foundation. In our strenuous
= preoccupation with the mind we have
forgotten the body.
DR. ID. A. Sargent Of Harvard, says
| concerning the neglect of physical
| training in our public schools: There
is not single exercise in the school
curriculum that requires them to lift
their hands above their heads, or to
use their hands and fingers, except to
turn page or thumb a piece OF
chalk. Again, he says: Under such
conditions with no attempt made at
classification according to physical
needs, with everyone doing the same
thing, without any moral enthusiasm
on the part of the teacher, without
hope of approval or reward on the
part of the pupil, without even the
inspiring strains of music to relieve
the monOtony our public school
children are put through what some
persons call educational gymnastics.
The gymnasium of the garden and the
field has helped to give robustness to
generations, but it develops the body
unequally. Neither does 1t supply the
finer and more accurate muscular ao,
justments with the associate mental
drill that special training supplies
"Awkwardness, lack of skill in do
ing things is waste. Accuracy, ease
and gracefulness are economies
mo girl should be allowed to grow
up without physical training. This
should be supplied when the body is