MODERN SCHOOLGIRLS.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVI, Issue 19093, 28 January 1932, Page 9

MODERN SCHOOLGIRLS.

MAXIMUM OF SLEEP. Parents should ring the curfew for the modern schoolgirl—she needs more sleep (states the “Daily Mail”). This was the opinion expressed by headmistresses on the remarks of Miss F. M. Fordham, headmistress of the Liverpool College for Girls, that “if parents would send their children to bed at a reasonable hour examination results would be more satisfactory.” Miss E. M. Edghill, headmistress of St. Felix School, Southwood, said: — “The strain of modern life is such that schoolgirls require a maximum of sleep. At my school girls between 13 and 16 are in bed by 9 p.m., and the older girls retire at 9.30. I consider those reasonable hours, and if parents of day school children w r ould adhere to them the children would be better physically and mentally.” A Ten-hours’ Rule. Miss Charlotte Cowdroy, principal of Crouch End High School for Girls, said that many day girls did not get enough sleep. She continued; “Sometimes it is because parents are a little vain and keep them up so as to show them off to visitors. Girls stay up late, sometimes because they have a great deal of homework. In some cases this is partly the fault of the parents, who want them to pass the matriculation examination as soon as possible so that they may be able to start work. Children of school age want nine or ten hours’ sleep. I think children between the ages of five and eight should go to bed at 6.30; from eight to twelve at 7.30, and from twelve to sixteen between 8.30 and 9.”

A medical correspondent agreed that children often do not have enough sleep. He said: “A child of sixteen should have ten hours’ sleep if leading a healthy life—working and playing hard. Children studying for examinations want plenty of sleep, as, broadly speaking, brain workers require more sleep than manual workers.”