Our Educational System.

White Ribbon, Volume 12, Issue 135, 15 August 1906, Page 4

Our Educational System.

The Evils ok Cham. The most sincere thanks of tin* people of this Colony does Dr. Trubv King merit for his strenuous and able efforts to launch them on the ocean of divine discontent with our educational system. Kor many years have New Zealand parents and politic ans been apparently blindly satisfied with the manner of life of the school children. Here and there a solitary parent might he found who mourned either the stunted intelligence, or tin impaired physique of his child, and averred that education, in the true sense, was almost unknown. But such expression was not general. I*or months past Dr Trilby King has been conducting a crusade in Otago, pointing out that mental weakness and derangement, as well as bodily infirmity, are directly traceable to the system of “cram so generally operative in cur public schools. One result of t he doctor's efforts is that at least some ol the teachers are awake and ready to co-o|H*rate with Government in the matter of reform. On August 7th, Dr King delivered a lecture in Christchurch. But as in* then “ crammed' into one evening material that would

have sullieed for six lectures, had it been jmssible for him to extend his visit, one cannot pretend to give even an outline of tin* address. The lecture \ as made most interesting by means of diagrams, wherewith the lecturer made manifest the results of the right and of the wrong method of treatment of plants, animals and children. In tin* care and training of the y. ung, the first essential must be food. Air was just as much a part of food as anything else, hut people would sleep in impure air and could be exacted to do nothing else until they were taught, by the projier ventilation of the schools. Sunlight and warmth must also be inc luded as foods. Play and games should he a part of all school life. Rest and rhythm were two most important essentials, yet at the* most ini|K>rtant period of !.fe many girls had little rest, working twelve hours a day to prepare for examinations. A strong race could only be reared in the open air, where the senses were trained and the muscles strengthened. An afternoon or two a week in a boat would give a boy far bigger mental stature than hours in school. There should be medical insjieetioii of all school children, to see whether they were lit for ordinary school life. A great deal of what was taught in school was ahsolutelv useless afterwards.