Newark post., 1919-07-23
INTERRUPTION OF
CHILD'S SCHOOLING A
SERIOUS HANDICAP
Recent Report Shows Need of
Enriching Life Of Rural
Children

SHliNi Gil ID IGlIeCLSu III Stuuy VI
the country child at home, at work,
and at play, recently issued by the
Children's Bureau of the u. S. De-
partment of Labor.
While this study was made in
two typical counties in North
Carolina, it is a fair indication OF
conditions affecting some country
children in Delaware where, as far
as farm work is concerned, SINH
lar circumstance are met.
In the life of the country child
the terms "at home" and Eat work"
are frequently synonymous. Every
farm child has a variety of chores
to perform around the house and
at the barn; this is in addition to
the regular field work with the
crops. In the lowlands it was
found that two-thirds of the white
and three-fourths Of the negro
children from 5 to Is years old,
and in the mountains, nine-tenths
of the children, helped in the
fields, cultivating and harvesting
the crops. One father of eight said
that he did not buy a corn planter
because he ALREADY had eight"
The working hours of the children
vary with the individual family
and with the season, though in
spring and summer especially
many work from "sun to SUM-
"A reasonable amount of farm
work can hardly be injurious to
the health of sturdy, well-grown
child" says the Children's Bureau
report; 'but very young children
should not be called upon to per-
form regular daily field labor with
it's accompaniment Of long hours,
exposure to the heat Of the sun,
monotony and fatigue
The interruption of the child's
schooling by requiring his help
with the crops is a serious handi-
cap to his education. Between the
ages of 10 and 20, about l white
child in 10 and l negro child in
3 in the low county had not learn
ed to read and write; among
mountain children this rate was /
in 8. Although the law makes at
tendance at school compulsory for
children between s and IA years
for four months of the school
term, even this meagre require
ment is not enforced.
The two counties furnish an in
teresting contrast in the oppor-
tunities they offer for recreation
and social intercourse. While the
social life of the lowland county
is perhaps above the average for
rural communities, it is limited in
the mountain county to a monthly
"preaching,' a county fair once a
year, and an occasional visit to the
neighbors. School entertainments,
club activities, picnics and parties,
common in the lowland county, are
almost entirely lacking in the
Highlands. The remoteness and
inaccessibility of the mountain
homes and the lack of means of
transportation and communication
serve to keep many families in al
most complete isolation. One
mother has never been to town in
her life--she has not been to the
country store five miles from her
cabin in fifteen years. Another has
never seen a railway train. Trips
after the mail are few and far be-
tween; magazines and newspapers
are rare.
That parents are anxious to do
the best they can for their chill
dren is shown by the interest they
showed in the Children's Bureau
Health Conference; which furnish
ed opportunity for parents to con-
suit with a physician about the
physical development of their chill
dren. The report as whole shows
clearly the need for making life
richer and more worth while for
the children that are born into
rural communities. In spite of the
hard life and often primitive con-
ditions, most of the families in the
counties studied were contented
with country life. They were
aware, however, of the disadvant-
ages of their situation. Some of
the mountain parents indeed were
eager to leave the country for the
sake of their children-to be more
convenient to school, church and
doctor, and the children them
selves were in some cases restless
and dissatisfied.