THE EVILS OF CRAM.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXIX, Issue 112, 15 May 1906, Page 1

THE EVILS OF CRAM.

ANOTHER SPECIALIST'S VIEWS

Speaking to a "Press" reporter on Dr. Trtjby Kjii^'s. severe indictment of the present educational system, Dr. Levinge says:—

" I think the chief difficulty is the anxiety of masters to get the best possible results, and they naturally press the most brilliant students to achievements which may be beyond their strength. With a complex education system and a syllabus" such as Dr.' King indicates, there can be no doubt there are comparatively few brains able to stand the strain without suffering from exhaustion. It depends also, to a grtsat tjxtont, yu the physical health of the children subjected to the test, and a weakly child could not stand the same amount of pressure as one in good bodily health. And in the case of these weaklings I speak of, their bodily weakness often indicates their mental condition. But we must make certain allowances for cause and effect in these cases. Th©VP i»ay be other caitses contributing to mental break-down than high pressure education, and I think mental break-down may often bo ascribed to this cause, whon it is really due to inherent physical weakness. It is a well-known fact that some of the greatest gfmuises live en t-he borderland of insanity, and that-it takes very little to push them over, as it were.

"I think parents often show a disposition to Sacrifice the future of their children by the.ir anxiety to gefe educational results at too e,arly an age. That they are really discounting the future is shown by the fact that so few of the brilliant pupils and students at school or college turn out the most brilliant in after life, and the inference is that their brain has become prematurely exhausted. Nor does this principle apply exclusively to education. You will find many other causes operating in the direetitm yf exhausting the nervous energy and the vital forces at an early age.—

" Unfortunately, neurosis is on the increase, and I think *n mauy cases these brilliant youths and girls have inherited a neurotic strain, consequently educational methods may be credited with pyQtliicjng yesults which have really arisen from other causes. The evils of over-study may often be corrected, however, by more attention to physical development. TJie principle underlying; the, Rhodes Scholarships is, to in,v'"mind., the right one— these scholarships (ire awarded to youths who have not merely shown groat intellectual capacity, but who have proved their proficiency in athletic games and general manliness. Briefly, mental education and development should take place part l-^assu with physical tl«vGlpj>inentj 'and you have it all in the old motto: ' Mens sana in corpore sano.' "