EFFECT OF EXAMINATIONS

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19132, 29 September 1936, Page 12

EFFECT OF EXAMINATIONS

BOYS “BURNT-OUT” homework defended OXFORD, July ' Home work and school feeding discussed ’bv the medical sociology secJjk of the British Mebnfu Assocm f snt the concluding meetings hero C ar, when Sir George -Newman. itv*:mcr Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, presided. ’Dr. Kaye le Fleming, chairman o. the B.M.A. Council, declared during the discussion that the _ examination system was wrong. Tne effect o. work which it demanded, sometimes onthings of no use in after life, was that boys 'became burnt out, just as the athlete became prematurely burnt om through over-training. . Dr. William Brockbank, medical ofii•cer of Manchester Grammar School, who opened the discussion, complameu that the whole educational system was at fault, 'but added that some boys liked homework. “It should not be forgotten tnat the quick and clever -boy enjoys exercising his powers,” said Dr. Brockbank. “The boy is thrown on his own resources and the work is theiefoie in dividual, as contrasted with the work done during the day in collaboration with the teacher. . “I have had very few complaints from either boys or parents that homework has affected a boy’s health and physical condition, and from my own observation I aln quite satisfied that it does not. . “I am told from time to time by parents that their boys take too long over homework. Inquiry will often elicit the fact that the boy is working in a room in which a wireless set is in operation or within earshot. Sometimes he is expected to work in the company of younger brothers and sisters who are romping about.”