Danville intelligencer. [volume] (Danville, Pa.) 1859-1907, 1906-07-13
COMMUNICATION FROM
AN INTERESTED ONE

schools for the recess period.
This method gives at least 10 min
utes in the forenoon and 10 minutes in
the afternoon for systematic exercise
in each class room.
During this Is minutes of exercise
the windows in the rooms can all be
opened without any fear of any one
taking cold. The advantage of recess
is fresh air and exercise, both of these
are secured by the above method and
more efficiently No one is allowed to
take some exercise. There is no wrest-
ling, no fighting, no dirt, no mud, no
wet feet and torn clothes, no hideous
bowling mob, no property destroyed
no one so overheated or excited that
they cannot go to work with zest i'm
mediately after the calisthenic period
is over. The tendency of the school
child bending over his desk is to be-
come round or stoop- -shouldered.
The calisthenic exercise which re-
quires the children to stand up straight
exhale and inhale freely and go through
the necessary motions to develop ev-
cry part of the body would go far to-
ward overcoming round or stoop
shoulders. The child may or he may
not get the right kind of exercise on
the school grounds. In the school room
he is sure to get just the exercise
which he needs from the calisthenics.
Such exercises have always proven a
delight to children and thus the child S
craving for play is also satisfied. The
history of the method has been that
many children learn the movements.
and themselves voluntarily take need
ed exercise in their own homes during
the winter months. By this method
parents would not feel that their chill
dren were housed in hot stuffy stag
nant room, where they are liable to take
almost any disease, but they would
know that for at least Is minutes in
the forenoon session and fifteen min
utes in the afternoon the rooms would
be deluged with fresh air. Everybody
knows that healthy body is necessary
to an active mind, and the writer feels
that the considerations of health alone
abundantly justify the change.
To the writer's best knowledge, no
public school that has adopted the
above method has ever gone back to
the old recess system. 1t has every
where proven a delight to parents and
children alike. 1t is no experiment but
already an old system proven efficient
by practice, and to the writer's certain
knowledge, many of the foremost citi-
zens in this community are in favor
of the change.
rne moral benefit of the above sys-
tenn is self evident, rs it effectively
cuts out all the immoralities of the re-
cess. The large boy has not the oppor-
tunity to pour his vile language into
the ears of the little ones. The refin-
ing influence is just as apparent, for
the coarseness and vulgarity of the re-
cess are effectively cut out.
1t seems scarcely necessary to call
attention to the benefits of the second
part of our proposition, viz: that the
barren yards that surround our school
buildings be turned into attractive
parks.
The beauty, the pleasure and the
profit of such change must be patent
to any one who has not been reared in
back woods never to see green
field.
If vote of the citizens of Danville
should be taken, as to whether they
prefer barn yards or parks about our
public school buildings there would
be no question as to the result.
The matter of expense in thus fitting
up our four wards would be so small
that it ought not to deter any one but
miser or fossil. After these yards
have been turned into beautiful parks
with artistic flower beds the keeping
of them in good condition would be Il
very small matter for the janitor.
Indeed the lessening of his labor both
inside and outside the building by the
abolition of the recess, would give
him abundant time to care for the
grounds properly.
The moral, refining and aesthetic
effect of such beauty spots in our com
munity can not be measured There is
humble little home on Ferry street
between Mahoning and the old canal
that is one of the beauty spots of this
town, because of the refinement dis
played by n profusion of plants and
flowers in the little yard in front of
the home. 1t stands in striking con
tIast to the barrenness of our school
yards. Some one may object that we
could not keep such parks about our
school buildings because the children
would destroy them. 1t is being done
effectively elsewhere. Can't we do
what others are doing? And to say
that the children would destroy them
is to say that we are not capable of
governing the children. Such state
ment is libel On the children. 1t can
be done and very easily. The writer
knows of school where all the chill
dren take pride in their exquisite
lawn and beautiful flowers and will
not allow any one to touch them. But
in order to do so the recess must not
only be abolished but the children
must not be allowed to assemble on
the school grounds before school hours.
Where parks are maintained about
school buildings, the children don't
assemble until the hour for school and
then they Immediately go to their
respective rooms.
When school is dismissed each class
marches out to the music of a piano,
two by two and keep step and in rank
until they have marched one square