IS IT PERNICIOUS?

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1492, 15 July 1912, Page 6

IS IT PERNICIOUS?

; BUR EDUCATION. ' DR.-.TRUBY KING SAYS "YES." ■ A lecture was delivered in the Concert Chamber on SaturcKiy' by Dr. Truby King, medical superintendent of Seiiclill' Slental Hospital, on certain hiediwil aspects of education. The statement made ty Dr. King wad primarily for the benefit of the Education Commission, but the commission invited teachers and others interested-to attend. Th-a speaker said that the first thing he wished, to draw attention to- is the {Crave effects which, neglect cf rational hygiene—Hie laws and needs of healthy •lyibit and' healthy living, over-study, nompctitivo examinations, and to-called eoi^ t . jtitiotis—are hitvinjf on Hie rising Bensration, 'especially on girls, .lie gave an address on this subject litre in Wellington some eighteen months ago at a large meeting ot the-Medical Association. What ho then advanced met with, tho strongest endorsement, and lie was ptpssed by medical confreres to bring the matter before the annual meeting of the British Medical Association, which was to l>9 held in Auckland some mo-nths later, as it was felt that the outlook and the existing conditions of education for girls needed to bo radically changed in certain 'directions. The' Case of Growing Girls. At the annual general meating in Auckland, held in March, 16 months ago, he 'gave- an'address on "Tho Factors Bearing on Motherhood under the conditions oi Modern Civilisation as '■ affecting , tho liace." Dr. Savage, the president, and a number of other doctors spoke, in the same direction, saying how frequently they ■were. called on', in practice, to deal" with cases of nervous breakdown and functional irregularities of organs associated ■with more or less developmental arrest, brought on by lack of rational hygiene and ii".judicious and unnecessary, education stress —that • is to say, arrest of proper nutrition/growth, and, development, involving not only the whole organism, more or less, but falling especially on those parts of the growing girl ivhich.it ds the scheme of creation to develop and expand \at the very period of life when the stress of our educational system is making 'itself,' niost felt. .'ln such caws, tho president said'he-was in'the habit of advising'.that .the pupil should be taken away from school for a whole year; indeed, he.-said he was inclined to think that were it feasible it would bo a good thing for all girls- if they could bo relieved from'.the stress of ordinary education as now conducted, at .this critical expand-: iug and/.lrapidly-groiving .'period of life. At: tho close of a long discussion the following resolution was passed unanimously:- •-;;• ....,-"■ ".. ' ■ .' That, the lion; -Dr. Collins, .'Dr.' Gibbs, and.Dr. King 'be appointed a. committee to wait on tho Minister for ■ Education .and represent the opinion ■ ';■ of this, conference-Miat.it is: in the . :. -':■ highest• interests of the'.whole;' , com-' '' muuity that the. iState-sliouW: (inculcate and bring about aS fair; fts. feasible an ideal of 'education ;iori. girls which, Ho quote the ■wbi'ds of Professor Stanley Hall, shall'"invert the present maxim that girls should be ■ primarily trained to independence and ■' self-support, and that matrimony and motherhood if it come will take caTe of , itself." This conference feels bound to deprecate any system of edii- • cation which—under the stress of excessive mental effort, excessive competition-, excessive sfraihingi.-- after socalled _ accomplishments, etc!—pays insufficient attention to ensuring normal, orderly, well-balanced develop- . ment and'complete'fitness for maternity and the practical care of a home. The conference Is satisfied that, broadly speaking.-e/ven'-urhero marriage does .-<: not take place, the education which . gives ; ;a:, girl 'the best all-round equip- •'•" ment in--body, mind, morals, and inclination "for home life and potential ' ■niot/herhood, also gives her tho sound- : ■ est and surest ■ foundation for' future health; .iftid happinesVakl for a eus-'.. tained'power of earning an. indepen- . dent living if- sueh.should prove to ho her" lot. ■■■ ,; ' '•-", The; views of the medical profession as indicated were duly laid before the Minister for Public Health. The only thing .bearing further on. this matter that has transpired since, was a meeting which took;place early , this week in which Dr. KuigTcbnferred with the committee of the -Medical .Association, in Wellington when there'was a unnnimpus confirmation of the conclusions,'arrived at previously, and .'cei-tain'fufther.;practical suggestions wero. Jhe speaker was asked to re''present .before the Commission. Education as it Appeals to the Physician. • lecturer explained that it was his intention to deal not so much with the ■ details of ordinary «dμcation.•RS with its ibrcoiler and more essential aspects, bearjing oh the' development and future health iand -fitness of the individual, physical, Imental, and moral. He was not specially •concerned with immediate school results. [In other words he wished ,to : deal with ' jeduchtion as it appealed to the physician, and .he. mado no apology for commencing ■ witlr.'a-few simple experiments suitable for demonstrating to a child and Droving .[that- we live at the bottom of an ocean' hvhich is just os material and substantial I as the ocean in which fish live, only-that 'the aerial, fluid happens to be thinner. 'Ninety per cent of people did not believe /that '-.air . was anything—or at anyrate, anything of importance. He could come to ino other conclusion from the fact that I, abhorred open windows, especially »pen; bedrooni windows. Education took ■no account of air as a food; indeed, ho 'might almost say that the higher our education tho le.°s seemed to bo the recognition, of the need for a constant and abundant supply of puro air—the first of all essentials for health. Education talkjed glibly about, carbonic acid gas and fifteen pouiids pressuro on. the square tinch, but it did not bring home to the child that it could live for forty days without;food, but only four minutes withbut ahv A child could bo intensely interosted'in such matters if theyweropro-i bcrly presented. The books generally used an our -schools for teaching physiology worq utterly unfit for the purpose—in-. , finitely dry and filled with a mass of ,un-, Interesting and unimportant details. .Young Children's Habits and Interests— \ -Hygiene and Good Air. Tho best book on health from which to teach a' child was, in his opinion, Col- ' manV "Health Primer." -The writer of Sthis little book insists that young children take: more interest in learning about their bodily needs than older children, tend in applying the kuowledgod gained. /This was well illustrated in the leoturer's experience in the case of a little girl of wight who' had been told the simpfo why iand wherefore iu-regard to pure air and had never slept without ,tlie windows /being as wido open as they 'would go. " Tho child watched with fascination an adult who was holding ■his breath and timing himself. More Dban a minute passed. The child gazed from the man to the watch with growing ■interest and.anxiety, tlieu she said, "Oh, |dad, why if you'd done it for another minute you'd have been dead." On another occasion, when sleeping "away from!home, a screen was placed beitween her/and the open-window, and she •said the next mornuig, "I don't think 'much of the air here. ■ The fiesh air comes in at the window, bumps up egoinst the screen, and then goes out egain." This only confirms what a welliknown physician said of his own children:—"They had formed hygienic habits — ;I had almost said instincts—by the time they were three years old, and would of -their, own accord cross the. room and opsn a window as a matter of .course if .ihey found themselves in si stuffy rcom,. just as an adult would shun a foul and noisome emell. The same thing applied to such transcendently important habits, for both boys and girls, as the early morning cold bath and active exercise be'fore breakfast—the rule of every great public, school in England. An English public schoolbov would as' soon think of going to breakfast' without washing his fac-s and brushing his teeth as be would oi' going without the morning: tub. Was anything of this kind true of our own eduoation system? Did it tend to encourage a boy to discipline or habits . of this kind—habits wliich were ' most essential for making him robust and .manly for ensuring self-control, and tor safeguarding him from tho worst risks of adolescence? Was anything of the land enjoined on girls? They knew perfectly well .that it was not—indeed, less attention was paid to their physique than to that of boys, though bodily fitness was evon::.mQr.ft,esi«,ftUai. t°f, -te 'H^.

health and happiness,- and for tho r.ako of the- race than, in tlw> case of boys. The fallowing extract wax then ryml from tlio child's primer;— , The Fftup Schoolmates. 1. Four children walked to school along the Mime street. NctS one of them was really clean, and t'iiis 'is tho reason why. The first pupil lived ■ a long way oif in the suburbs, and cninc along w muddy road. His shoos unit his clothes were spattered with mud. ■ Tlio second pupil did not like to brush ".liis hair, to clean •his finger-nails, or to tnke a bath. Sometimes he diil not tnkb a bntli even on Saturday night if his mother did not remind him. So his skiii was not clean. 2. The third pupil was ao fond of eaVing that he might-lie called ,n- tflulton.' He wns always rendv to eat Ywlwoeii meals, and if there was anything especially good on tho table, hn almost .stuffed himself. Hβ matlo l\is stomaclu weak, and often when he ate a great Mil, the food would not be promptly digested. His tooth were not kept clean, and some of them were decayed. Therefore, the third pupil wns not clean, because his' digestive organs were not clean. 3. The fourth pupil lived in a home of very agnonynt people. Her pa-rente did not know what pure air is for. If the weather tvils the least cold, they would shut every window ti»ht and sleep all night in rooms thus closed. They kept the house closod durin« tho day, and breathed each .others breath over and over again. This', pupil iv;is fourteen years old, and sun nail n foolish idea-'of trying to look like a young lady. So she had begun to wear tight bands and belts around her waist, and she could not draw a deep breath oven when she was out of doors in the 'pure air So her blood became impure, t\nd pimples came out on her face. Because of impure blood, she often had bad colcte, which inflamed her nose mid caused catarrh. This made her breath almost a;\ bad as the breath of Hie third child, which was bad enough, i. There wcro many, children in school, with clean clothes-and nails and hair, with clean skins, clean' stomachs, and clean blpotl. But there remains the- puzzling question: Which o;ie of the four schoolmates mentioned was the cleanest of aI U Which one wa.? the least clean of all, tne^ono .with unclean clothe*, or skin, or. stomach, or Wood? What is your opinion? The Sealed Bedrooms of a Cottage Hostel; Dr.' King saidi tlliat was just the question he would lilke to ask of some thirty or forty '"iris wfc.o were mostly receiving their higher education in one of our University colleges*, and.of whom ninety per cent, slept in tiglitly-sealecl bedrooms, without a chink of window opening. He had had occasion, to pass the hostel m wliich they lived day after day, and he hid nover seen more than three windows out of forty open in the early morning, though there were thirty open in a lodg-ing-house opposite. Stranger still, with few exceptions, the windows and doors remained closed all day. long, mid things remained unchanged though he had himself pointed out some--two years ago that, apart from tlhe windows, the building was improved with the special openings for ventilation which every modern sanitary house- should have. • . • What was "the use of -pretending to teach physiology and failing- to provide the primary essentials, ever, in a so-called model hostel, and not swing that the students atle-ist arnii;..! fl>om«p|~>s of the windows. The whole: thing wee Bβwildering, but it was only on u par nui what we found in connection with our schools, whore it '-was no- uncommon thing to find sixty or eighty infants crowded into a room which gavo sufficient space for only about half the number. Protests and Inquiries from Teachers. He had himself received many inquiries and protests from teachers in our primary schools with regard to this and ' other wrongs inflicted On the children, and for tho most part there was only one answer to be given—the position was indefensible. Here was a. sample of a specific, question, which needed, no. answer:— .. . Do you think it is nerve-destroying for, children from five to eight years of age to be examined about seven time 3 a year—three times by the headroaster, three by the, infant mistress ■ (who naturally wants to see progress), and once by the board's inspector? Parents have told me that their children get exoited and talk lessons in -their sleep when these examinations arc- coming. Such an excess of examining may be exceptional in our infant schools, . but wo know what school inspectors and others have to say on this'matter in connection with, older children. Another question was as follows:— Do you think that infants from 5 to 8 years of age should have at most 4 hoiiTs of mental work, and at least one hour of games in the open air? . The answer to this, the lecturer said, might be- inferred from the result of German investigations, which showed conclusively that in any case ordinary school life proved very prejudicial to the body growth and development' of little ,chil-. dren. It was found that in the first year 'at school boya grew poorly, and that the growth of girls was almost arrested. German children were sent to school at 0 years of age, if strong, but if found weak and delicate on medical examination they were, kept back for a. year. The significant fact is that the delicate five or ten per cent, who are kept away from school from 6 to 7 increase 20. per cent, more in weight ajid ovw 40 per cerft. more in height in that year than thj2 strong children who attend school. At a meeting' of the committee of the Medical Association,' held' in WcJlington during the week, it was decided to, recommend that parents should be discouraged -from sending children to ordinary schooling before 7 years of age, and that .Children should not be admitted before t! I years; that only morning school should Ibe attended up to 9 years of age —say, three hours, with clearing out for play every three-quarters of an hour. This would allow ten minutes for a scamper or play, and five minutes for getting out and in. It was insisted on that such S revisions -were essential in any i.'ase, but oubly necessary in'view of tho fact of our schools being for the moat part indifferently constructed and badly ventilated.

iVther, it had been clearly established that a child's attention could not in any case be properly sustained for more than •about' 45 minutes.' .'" Kjmlly, in regard to schools' for- infants, the handing over of oft or'. CO pupils ■■ to the care of a pupil teachex was , to> bo strongly deprecated.. Infants needed the best of teachers, speciE.lly selected, on account of aptitude both in regard to work and play, and on a©--cpiint of thoir being genuinely fond of little children.