New Britain herald. [microfilm reel] (New Britain, Conn.) 1890-1976, 1919-03-18

m endous stress it has laid upon the
health of the body.
In progressive school, recently |
visited by the writer, the strongest i'm
preston received was the high health
standard of the pupils The air was
as fresh within as without, and those
ola tamlliar evidences of bad air in
the school room-dull eyes. languor,
Ino lack of interest-were con-
spicuously absent The class room
windows, without exception, faced
east and west, presenting siantinS
adjustment Of window panes that in
sured a constant supply of fresh air,
without direct drafts The tempera-
ture was kept between fifty and
ffty-fve degrees, with the result that
the pupils were all alert and ready
for business Teachers and pupils
alike were com fortably clad in sweat
ers. In this school an individual
health chart was kept for each pupil,
a blue star indicating If any correc-
tons in weight or measurements
would be desirable and red mark
of Identification if the child had con-
tracted contagious disease within the
past twelve months. Contrast this
with the old scheme Of health exam
nations in our public schools. and the
lack of any health examination at all
in many of our private educational
institutions.
The first article of belief in the
progressive school creed then, Is
health. A sound, sturdy body, to-
gether with an open mind which shall
be given full opportunity for initia-
tive and self expression.
,1I
possible. From long practice we
have grown to regard childhood as
SO much raw material. to be showed
through the funnel of a system, then
neatly separated into portions of reg
ular length, breadth and thickness
like chain of sausages. And when
the scheme failed, the blame was laid
the material. while the real fault |
was plainly with the educational pro-
cess itself. Parents have been help !
less under the old regime. they knew |
their children hated school, that they
lived in a state of more or less SITS |
pended animation from Saturday to
Saturday, when a, free day made it
for them to exercise some power of
choice in the matter of pursuits and
Self-eNpression. Yet parents never
took this highly valuable tip-that
incentive is more than half the battle
in education, as in life.
Mothers and fathers failed to see
in the mighty power of incentive and
enthusiasm the answer to the age-old
school riddle: Why do half alive
children crawl to school five days in
the week, and dynamic young vikings
storm home to celebrate Saturday?
This should long ago have pointed
out the weakness of our convention
al school method. The source of pow
er is in desire and emotion. as the
source Of weakness is in the absence
of them. And no pedagogical pro-
cess can make it otherwise. child
of the writer's acquaintance with
tremendous liking for machinery. and
a. corresponding lack of interest in
spelling, reading and writing, learned
the three unconsciousy. and auto
matically. by being given a free hand
with an old typewriter. The captions
of an illustrated bird hook took his
fancy and interest did the rest
Eugene Smith, head master of the
Park school in Baltimore, told me of
an almost similar case in his school,
only the medium that supplied the
interest in spelling and English con-
struction happened to be a printing
press.
The average parent regarding the
rebellion, incident to his sons educa-
tional novitiate, recalls his own
pangs in retrospect, he is sympathetic
even induIgent-but he feels power
less before what seems to be an
obligatory process of adolescence
as necessary as the growing pain. If
he does make the discovery that
something is wrong with the system
that seeks to drive without, rather
than to inspire from within. he finds
j impossible to change conditions.