Smyrna times., 1930-11-26
13-MONTH SCHOOL YEAR
Present Program at White House
Farley; Vacation Every Months

Present Program at White House
Farley; Vacation Every 8 Months
A revised school program was
recommended last week in the re-
port prepared by DR.. Thomas D.
Wood, Columbia University health
expert, for the coming White child
conference. In the interest of
child health, DR.. Woods commit
tee would considerably change
school days and school ways, not
stopping short of considering a 13-
month calendar. Home study
should be entirely eliminated in
the first six grades, and it has lit
tie to recommend in high school" :"
the report said. At the same time
it attacked the long summer vaca-
tion of undirected idleness. school
is too formal, vacation too empty"
the committee decided, urging the
board of education to take charge
of children on a year-around basis.
A school term 10 to II weeks in
length, with a week of vacation in
tervening, was suggested on the
theory that even adult efficiency
declines after II weeks of work
without vacation. "The adoption
of the 13-month calendar would
help in the adjustment of such a
program, the report said: The
school bell would have a digerent
meaning, mid-mornings and mid
afternoons, under its recommenda-
tion that the 15-minute recess
should be period of genuine
rest, not play, with as complete
relaxation as possible and real
quiet" However, 80 minutes of
physical education per day would
be the minimum in any curricul-
um. Pronouncing the school the
universal, officially accredited,
and strategic institution" for di
recting child health care, the re-
port held the school responsible
for every phase of health direction
from choosing the right janitor to
teaching how to pick a well-bal-
anced meal from a cafeteria
counter. School authorities were
urged to make summer health
round-ups to discover physical de-
fects and secure their correction.
They were urged to improve the
quality of janitor service since
sight is preserved by keeping
window glass and blackboard
clean" Nurses, dentists, oculists
and physicians were listed among
school needs, and the report urged
one psychologist for every 1000 to
1900 pupils in the elementary
school and one for every 500 to
600 pupils in secondary schools to
take charge of psychological test
ing and vocational guidance. The
committee pronounced "undesir-
able" county, state and national
championship tournaments in COM
petitive games, and said endurance
tests, such as long-distance rum
ming, should be omitted from the
physical education program. But
nutrition should be taught every
school child, the well-nourished as
well as the under-nourished, the
report said, Moreover, the school
should feel obligated" to provide
lunch, the committee held, when
ever the distance is too great for
children to go home at noon or
when they would not receive a
suitable meal if they went home. "
Children as young as two, from
under-privileged homes, were held
entitled to part-time participation
in kindergarten play. Great stress
was laid on accident prevention.
Pointing to statistics showing 49,
600 of the 100000 accidental
deaths in 1929 as those of children
the committee said that during the
seven-year period in which acci-
dent prevention had been stressed
in public schools, adult mortality
increased 80 per cent while child
mortality stood stationary.