River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-07-09
EDUCATIONAL TALKS
TO PARENTS
WHAT TO Do WITH OUR Dull
CHILDREN
By Prof. NJ. v. O'Shea, Department
of Education, University of Wis
cOnSin.
Article No. 1.

We always nave the Gull cnllQ
With US. Every parent knows that
even the naturally bright child APP
pears sometimes to be dull. And
then there is the child who is
clearly behind others of his age.
He does not get on we'll in school
for one thing. He may fall a year
or two behind his grade and when
this happens, he becomes a source
of trouble to everyone, himself in
Guided. This child may not be as
quick in understanding what is said
to him in the home as he ought to
be, Nand this leads to his being
scolded by those who think he is
Willfully negligent. There are
children of this type who are
hardly ever free from censure,
either in the school or in the
home.
What can be the cause of this
unhappy condition? During the
past ten or Is years men in all
parts of the world have been in
Vestigating the dull child. They
nave discovered a variety of con-
dItlons that may produce dullness
but only the more prominent and
prevalent of these conditions will
be mentioned at this time. We
Will leave side, with merely men
tloning it, one cause of dullness
which is due wholly to the way
in which children are trained from
the second or third year up to
maturity. This is lack of mental
concentration. No child can get
along very well in the home or in
the school unless he can keep his
mind on the thing which is being
said to him, or the task which has
been assigned him, or the work he
is trying to accomplish. If he is
distracted by everything that is
happening around him, he will be
certain to fall behind in the school
work; and he will be a cause of
annoyance in the home, because he
cannot readily get the directions
which are given him, and he can
not command his attention so as
to do what is expected of him.
There are many conditions in mod
ern life which tend to produce
scattermindedness but this sub
ject must be discussed at another
time.
Men who have been investigat-
ing this matter of dullness have
recently called attention to certain
physical defects found in many
children, all of which seriously
handicap them in their mental
work. The first is defective vi
sion. At least forty-five per cent
of all children over the age Of
five have defective eyesight to
such an extent that if it is not
corrected, they will be practically
certain to drop behind in their
school work. The larger part of
school work today depends upon
clear, accurate vision. When this
is not possible, the pupil is certain
to make all sorts of mistakes, and
he cannot get things as quickly as
his fellows who have normal eve
sight. Further, every defect of
eyesight, if not corrected, means
a waste of energy.
The child who is lon~g-sighted or
short-sighted or, worse still, who
has the very common defect known
as astigmatism, and if these de-
fects r not corrected by proper
glasses, such a child will be using
his nervous force all the time to
overcome eyestrain, and he will
tend to become inert, unrespon-
sive, dull, and even stupid. There
is but one thing to do for such a
child; fit him with glasses pre-
scribed by a competent specialist.
No parent of a child over five
years of age should let him GO to
school without having his eyes
tested by a capable man. Even if
he is bright, his eyes should be
examined SO that if there is any
difficulty, it may be in
order to save nervous energy. In
some countries, and in some cities
in our W country, it is prescrib-
ed by law that a child's eyes
must be examined at least once a
year by a school physician, or by
by some other competent person.
This is an eminently wise law.
prof. O'Shea's second article on
dull children will appear next
weekly