CHILDREN AND THE READING HABIT.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 82, 31 December 1907, Page 3

CHILDREN AND THE READING HABIT.

v-HitKerto, wlicn any scientific authority/has ■ declared"against iKo over-education of chilhas always been >blo-to reckon on a certain, number: of supporters, if not among parent's, then among the children themselves. Sut ':tho; .point' of view of Professor Walter Ov- : Sc6t't,, who 'has been examining the -eyes ■of:-school children and investigating 'the-Causes-.whiclv arc leading to the progre&siw 3hort-'sighledness of the. coming-generation, ■will,'• sayf, the ."Daily Graphic. 11 make him popular' with no one. • Children are taught to fcßd';tbo" soon, is his-first proposition;; and it-is/qtiite •possible that- the. idea -has/ already .taken';-'root in -tho''nursery... But his second proposition .is' that, having been taught to read,:'.children are encouraged to read. top -mucjy.. :: The,average child ol 8 or 9 years of ago,; reads'some 20 books a year, and this fact-is-', dim" to. two causes. The first is/-that reading is tnught so" much better than -it ■dodrt6. ; bo that after' : twelve months' instruction a' child usually begins reading for plea-surp,;-ahd the'second reason is' that the- crior : moiis'increase in .the'niimher of. children's books .panders'to this- unhealthy appetite. In ' thoi.-tfnie of/our/grandfathers,; when the'sight of a'-.child "ill spectacles' was'a- very'imcomriion one.'reading was taught by veryVslow and cumbrous'methods, and'interesting books .for;.'Children'..wero few' in number and not available for the vast majority of' young people/' ..Consequently ,'thcir, eyes were not strained'at.an ago. when,the strain on tho ciliary arid'other muscles "of the.eye is most likely' to-produce early short-sightednesses. Accdrdifig, therefore,' to -Professor.W. ,D. Scott,, the donor of the ."gift book" should think twice about his present. -Even Mr.'Andrew Carnegie,; whoso 'libraries minister.to the .taste' of.tfte'■'.very-.youngest,.is-'not,.an:;un-'miied'hlessiiig to his race. .'*''.; - ■'-