NOTES ON EDUCATION

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 42, 13 November 1907, Page 8

NOTES ON EDUCATION

(Br. "Socrates.")

' SCHOOL HYGIENE.IN ITALY. Tho educational authorities in Italy havo Evidently a very great deal to learn in tho Batter of the hygienic conditions of''their ' common schools. Signor Alessandro Lustig,1 at tho request of tho Anti-Tuberculosis Congress, which was held recontly at Milan, has mado a thorough investigation of tho conditions of schools, chosen from every district of Italy; and his report, which is ombodied in an article in tho "Nuova Autologia" (Rome), makes painful reading. Italy is well, represented in the great tide of emigration which sweeps outward from Europe to i\\ parts of tho world. The first essential in an immigrant is that ho should bo physically, sound. The second is that he should'not be illiterate, nor: be accompanied by a family of illiterates. With regard, to the first, according to Signor Lustig's roport, the state of tho schools is in almost every case disheartening, ' and oven alarming. Any ono who knows tho Jack of hygienic knowledgo and equipment in tho Italian schools will not bo surprised to learn that in tho. matter of statistics of -mortality for consumption tho students of Italy stand first -'of all. Not only do the schools fail to aid the pupils in their healthy development, they positively injure it. ■■ - * " Very few of the school buildings wore . constructed for that purpose, and only 50 per cent of tho majority have been adapted in the slightest to their present uso. Tho few . buildings constructed expressly for school purposes are-often not well adapted for children, and are used for other purposes as well. As for tho others, they are generally indecent, crowded, airless, and located in position unfavourable to tho health and morals of thoir inmates. In ono province, out of 217 buildings, 84 (or 35 por cent.) are. excessively damp. In somo provinces thero aro many schools where there is no water in 'the school buildings, ; nor any form of water-, v closets In one prpvinco,7o per cent., of the * buildings havo nono. Almost without excop- ' ,'tion, the schoolrooms in the , elementary schools havo insufficient cubic air-space, aro badly lighted, and filled with germ-laden dust. In one province 70 per cent, of tho schoolrooms havo no means of warming-them, aro without light, damp and dirty, and 81 per cent, have no water. The seats are instruments of torturo, the cause of many x curved spines and of eyo troubles, which aro very prevalent in tho secondary .< schools. There is no chanco: for physical education, 'since almost none of the schools have proper playgrounds, which are neither dusty nor 1 wet" ~ '•■'■■ . ■ ■'". 'f ( . Provision is made, by regulations, for effective sanitation, but these regulations' are moro'honowed in the breach than in the ob- , Bcrvanco thereof.. The regulations demand 1 that (1), every school shall bo thoroughly disinfected at least once, a. year, and (2) that every school shall,bo visited at least once a month in ordinary times,- and oftoner if necessary, by a Government health inspector. The author says that ityis not to bo hoped that a radical. transformation can take place at onco, or even for a long time, though he suggests some linos of desirable reformschool lunches, recreations, hospitals, Alpino colonies, and a better instruction in school , hygiene for teachers.. But certain elementary improvements should bo mado at. once, and must bo. mado if the rapid spread'of tuberculosis among school children is'to be checked. So much for hygienic conditions.

■ ' \ . THE EVIL OP-ILLITERACY. The ovil of illiteracy is discussed by Signor Maggiorino Ferraris; a member of tho Italian Chamber of Deputies, in an article jjn the " Nuova Autologia."" He thus refers ; to the efforts of the.Government to lower f the percentage of illiteracy :— - ~ "I'or many years Italy, with its ignorant masses, has fed tho lowest levels of the great i cities of tho world, of Europe, and of the United States. At the present day, in the press, in books, and somotimes even in the ~ foreign, Jcgislaturps,' there has been discus-, .'■ won-'of'"'the comparative merits of Italian emigration and of that of tho yellow and black races. This is a hard truth brought home to many of .our fellow-countrymen- in '•, foreign lands; and in Italy it is only ignored by the rhetoricians, who do not travel, who , do'not know foreign languages, who do not ' read—and oven boast of this—a single nows- '•..'. paper or a single book published beyond tho Alps. This does not depend upon any in--1 feriority of raco; far otherwise. Tho Italian ~ emigrant who has studied or who has at least grown up among intelligent surroundings,i wherever ho may go, will become a capable ' workman,'a/merchant, an activo member of the community, and will do honour both to 'himself and to'-his'native land." ■ Signor Eorraris regards an annual expendi'ture of 5 lire per capita as an irreducible minimum to assuro adequate primary instruction. At present the Communes expead annually 80,000,000 lire and the Stato--17,000,000. In order to reach - the sum of 5 lire per capita, the State must provide each year: 65,000,000 lire additional. SCHOOL SECRET SOCIETIES. In the American "Review of Reviews" for September, Miss Marion'Melius has an'interesting article dealing with High School Secret Societies in America. These organU isations appear to have developed to a serious extent in the high schools of the United 'States, to much so that the suppression of certain of tho more mischievous bodies has become a question of considerable moment. Miss Melius says:—

" A really serious problem in our educational system which threatens to endanger not' only the future of our schools, but also to affect adversely the spirit of American, democracy by emphasising class feeling, has been .presented to the American parent by the establishment and development of the high-school fraternity.

"The situation is just this: Some thirteen * or fourteen years ago thero sprung up in the high schools • of this country secret societies patterned after tho college and university fraternities. The' inspiration for those came partly from a desire for more social life in the school, and partly from principals who had found their own collogo .societies a distinct benefit. ' Tho hign- ' school fraternities wero quickly followed by sororities, and these organisations thrived harmlessly for a while. They were generally silly, but they wore innocuous. As they increased in numbers, and were'strengthened by a chapter system all over tho country, they became a more and more powerful influence, until to-day they are tho dominating element in tho schools, and any . challenge of their supremacy is accompanied by a threatened' overturning of all school discipline. To-day educators . are practically united in regarding the high-school secret •society ps an elephant on their hands, and thoy aro extremely anxious to rid themselves of. it. How, is the question teachers, parents, and oven lawyers are asking themselves.

"Tho'hree main charges on which tho high school secret society i 3 arranged are (1) that it is undemocratic, (2) that it resorts to cheap politics; and (3) that it is independent of school control. The National Educational Association investigated tho matter, and from the results of the investigation saw fit at a meeting in 1905 to resolvo against such societies, "because they aro subversive to tho principles of democracy which should prevail in public schools; bocause they are selfish aud tend to narrow the minds and sympathies of the pupils; because they stir up strife and contention; tecanso they are snobbish; because they dissipate ohorgy and proper ambition; becauso thoy set up wrong standards; because rewards are not based on merit but on fraternity vows; because they inculcate a feeling of self-sufficiency among tho members; because secondary school boys are too young for club lifo; becauso they aro expensive and foster habits of extravagance; becauso thoy bring politics into the legitimate organisation of the school; because they detract interest from stndy;. and becauso all legitimate elements for good—social, moral, and intellectual —which these societies claim tri possess can better be supplied to tho pupils through the school at largo in the form of literary societies and clubs under the sanction and supervision of tho faculties."

/ This resolution stiffened the backs of prin r cipals and teachers who wero ad verso to the secret societies, but hardly dare come out openly 'igaiust thorn for fear of lack of support