The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1910-09-07


We all want what is best for the child
but to condemn a child TO such druid
gerry as this is to be utterly cruel and
unmindful Of his best interests. 1t
makes him dull. No child will be alert
and anxious to learn under such con-
ditions. No man would submit to
learning anything which took him 5000
hours TO learn If he thought that sew
enteen hours was sufficient
We have a saying that adults will
grasp subject more easily with a
broader intellect than child.
The child's brain is just as quick. It
has a wonderful grasp within certain
scopes. We are the ones who make il
dull and feeble.
One rather bright child was sent to
the public school for the first time, aft
er she had learned enough under her
mothers tuition to pass the kindergar-
ten period. She went into the first
grade and when questioned as to what
had been taught her during the first
week. she said the subject was seed"
Day after day those children were
drilled on seed. 1t was shown to them
in all its aspects. It was drawn for
them. 1t was defined, printed, written,
spelled, and defined. written and spell
ed again.
The next week the study was "red."
One word at time those children
learned, or rather had the subject
slowly incorporated into their being.
Perhaps they will never forget words
learned in this way. but it seemed a
poor system. They might better forget
a few words and learn more. The child
who was used to going ahead and get
ting somewhere with her studies be-
came listless. She was not interested.
She knew those words anyway before
she went to school, and once, or twice
at most, was sufficient for her. She
was an average child, and yet all those
children were held to this humdrum
study so that the stupid ones might
also have learned the words from
which there was no escape,
We are a long suffering people. We
will admit that our children waste
time, and yet we will not take the mat
ter in hand and right this great wrong
to them.
/ do not believe in hurrying children
1t is wrong to oVerteach them, but II is
also wrong to hold them In unsanitary
rooms under duh routine of pretense
at learning, when they should be out in
the sun and air, making healthy bodies.
If we are wasting all but seventeen
hours in those first four years, why not
turn them into formative periods? Why
not build up foundation of health and
strength during those years, which win
prepare the children for quicker and
better work further up the line?
The average child should be under
the care OF the schools from the time 1t
is years Of age. The school system
should be simply method OF getting
at the child who would not be kept in
sanitary homes and under proper con-
ditions. Those four years from Ave to
nine should be devoted to health. II
we built up strong bodies during those
years and then kept the schools in
proper conditions, and looked after the
health OF the child as 1t passes from
grade to grade, we would soon be able
to dispense with many OF the public
asylums for helpless and broken down
citizens
1t Ii well to provide for the old and
poor, but it is also well to remember to
use the ounce OF prevention" as in
this case 1t means health.