Evening star., 1936-09-28
wanna Duck Is Very Good Slogan for Maeters Pr
Make. Sure
Child Has
Proper Rest
During School Term
Fatigue Often Cause
of Low Grades.
RY ANGELO PATRI.

TN EVERY class there are children
too tired to do their best work
Some are so fatigued that they do no
work and make no progress. Every
teacher knows such children, Is IA
miliar with their languid, lazy move
ments, their Indifferent attention,
their poor response. But the teachers
rannot do much to help the situation.
They meet the children in school and
have no power to prevent their i'll
ness. Fatigue is illness. and 1t Is
caused by poor living habits.
The trouble is most marked in the
higher grades. Adolescent boys and
girls suffer most from their unintelli-
gent management of their daily rou-
tine. They want to eat as they feel
their appetites' drive, usually toward
sandwiches and sweets snatched at
odd times. They will push aside the
carefully selected school lunch and
take smack" instead, if they possibly
can manage it. Poor eating habits
account for a great deal of fatigue In
school children in upper grades.
A lack of proper rest accounts for
more of it. Children have so much
energy that they believe themselves
to be tireless oh, I'm not tired" is
their response to every caution. Il
don't need to sleep so much" is their
reply to suggestion that late hours
are bad. II can do it easily; I never
get tired" is the common reply to a
protest against an overf1lled day
One weary youngster whose grades
we're falling steadily had his Saturday
so filled that it spilled over into Sum-
dav. He was to rise at o'clock in
the morning, hurry to the corner where
his friend was waiting with the car
motor 60 miles to country home
where breakfast was served ride
with the party over hill and dale un-
til lunch time, swim. dress, have lunch,
play in tennis tournament, have tea
at roadhouse and dance between
bites, motor back to the house, bathe
and dress for dinner, go on to dance
which would last until morning and
motor home again. "Oh, that's moth
ing 1 could do that every day"
/. Another young person, of scholastic
mind, had filled his days to overflow
ing with study He was not content
to take a full course, but added spe-
cials to it so that he had no time for
recreation. No parties for him, no
exercise, beyond what he grudgingly
performed in the gym. II can't waste
any time. I need to learn all there is
to be known, and the sooner the better
for me. No, of course I'm not tired.
like it." But he was losing weight.
His work showed more than the usual
number of errors. and these errors
were increasing. His temper was ir-
ritable and his eating habits were de-
plorable. The two usually 60 to-
gether.
These are two extremes taken from
great number of fatigue cases. Be
tween them lies big group of tired
Soung people working under difficul-
ties, fighting against fatigue, longing
to get away from work and find relief.
They must be helped to see that only
by outstanding their resources can
they hope to last through college
years and arrive at any worthwhile
end. Health makes work a joyous
privilege. Fatigue makes it a tread
mill. Health makes for accurate, sue
cessful and original work Fatigue
kills all that. Programs for Adde'S
cents must take this under consid-
Grafton.