The Boy Problem, III. What the Schools Can Do

THE BOY PROBLEM. BY DR. E. G. GO WANS, JUDGE OF THE JUVENILE COURT. 111.— WHAT THE SCHOOLS CAN DO. In previous articles on this subject, there has been emphasized the importance of a better preparation for parenthood, and the necessity for so modifying the present system of education that young men and young women who are about to assume the responsibilities of marital life may get a thorough grounding in the subjects that best prepare them for such responsibilities, to the end that there may be better homes. Now while, as will be readily conceded, the establishment of better] homes will do more toward the solution of the boy problem than any other one thing, yet there are other factors in the solution of this important problem to which we should direct our attention. The schools are under responsibilities which affect the boy immediately and directly as well as those which affect him indirectly, in the way of furnishing a better preparation for parenthood . Most juvenile delinquency begins as truancy, and in many instances truancy is a protest against the unnatural and forced restraint of modern school life. To say that the school itself is not largely responsible for this, is an attempt to put responsibility where it does not belong. Considerable attention is now being devoted to such hygienic considerations as the site of the school building, its heating, lighting, ventilation, water supply, floors, furniture, etc.; yet the fact remains that we take boys and girls at a time when their inherent natural demand for freedom and unrestrained out-of-door life is greatest, and confine them for four to six hours a day on a school bench, and expect them to submit without a murmur. Someone has said that the modern school desk is an instrument of torture, of the present day inquisitions. Furher, the schoolroom methods are adjusted to the needs of

370 IMPROVEMENT ERA. averages, and not to those of individuals, as they should be. Then, think of the various sources of worry to school children — examinations, marks, restrictions, nagging, ''the over-pressure upon some children, due to the iron-clad system," the subjection by the teacher of effective teaching to the mere securing of order; and the subjection of the child to the daily, hourly, monotonous routine of school life. To all of these things the average child submits. Those above and below^ the average have difficulty, — they either will not or cannot submit. Again, many teachers cling to the ideal of giving knowledge rather than the production of power, and therefore they devote more attention to physiology than to hygiene; to the when and where of a piece of literature, than to the power to enjoy good literature; to the name and date of birth of the author, than to the finding in literature the source of their nobler feelings. Now, it is not the purpose to enter into an extended criticism of schoolroom methods (although as a teacher, we feel at liberty so to do) , but to say that in the crush and pressure of all these elements of school life, we sin most grievously in not properly looking after the child's physical welfare. There is a "physical basis of mental efficiency." A sound body lies at the basis of all human development. It should be a perfect instrument— the ''willing, prompt and efficient servant of an intelligent mind, and a sensitive and enlightened soul." We cannot, therefore, continue to regard the child's mental ability as something apart from his physical life ; and in order to make clear the duty of the schools in this matter, let me here give place to some facts concerning growth and development. In early foetal life, the brain and nervous system take the Uad in development over the other systems, — alimentary, circulatory, respiratory, muscular and bony. This lead is maintained over the muscles up until seven or eight years of age , at which time the brain weighs nearly as much as during adult life. During these early years the sensory organs become well developed and the neuro-muscular mechanisms concerned in balancing, walking and talking, become fairly well developed. During this time the child's life should be as natural as it is possible to make, or rather permit, it to be. Left to herself, Nature takes good care of this pe-

THE BOY PROBLEM. 371 riod. We violate the laws of development by putting the child one or two years earlier than the end of this period into school, where his normal physical activity is restrained. What the child should have at this time is a free life in the open air, developing his fundamental activities; in contact with nature; in company with those of his own age— developing his sense organs, and engaging in such games as he shows an instinctive and inherent desire for; instead of writing, sewing, practicing on the piano, or engaging in other exercises, either in or out of school, which require delicate muscular co-ordination, and bring into play large brain areas. To disregard these plain indications is the surest way to produce instability of the nervous system, and sow the seeds that later bring forth St, Vitus dance, nervous irritability, sensitive nervous organizations, and general decrease in normal activity of vital organs, which conditions are responsible for nearly all dissatisfaction with school life, and consequent truancy. From this time on for six, eight or ten years, there is rapid growth in height and weight. The muscular and bony systems develop rapidly, the child becomes a youth or a maiden. This is the period when the youth demands reasons, — he must be shown. There can be no driving at this time, — he will not permit it. He can be led, persuaded, induced, but never driven. During this time, too, there is great danger of permanent injury through bad nutrition, under-feeding, lack of exercise, or improper exercise. This is the time when rational physical education has an opportunity. Games and simple gymnastics give splendid results if properly selected and well given, during this period of active muscular development. Boys should not be permitted to engage in strenuous contests, and feats of speed, strength or endurance of an unusual character— to subject the boy to such, when his nervous and muscular systems are just reaching full development and growth, would certainly be injudicious. The great lesson to be learned in the schools is self-control. We are educating an individual who is to become a self-governing, self -controlling, independent citizen of the world. If we were educating him to be a slave, the sooner we accustom him to the attitude a slave should hold toward a master, the better; but, since self-control is the thing sought after, the sooner he begins, the

372 IMPROVEMENT ERA. better. Proper .physical education has for its purpose the development or self-control of the nervous and muscular systems, which is fundamental to self-control mentally and morally as well. In view of these facts, what can the public schools do toward solving our present day boy problem? In answer, this can be said: A rational system of physical education could be introduced. Such a system would contemplate the measurement and examination of every child in school twice a year. This examination should include tests for the sight and hearing, as well as the general physical measurements which indicate vitality. After such examinations the children should receive the kind and amount of physical exercise needed by each one. Here must be adaptation to individual needs, — hygienic work and light recreation for the average; corrective gymnastics, suited to the individual needs of the weak or diseased; and athletics, for the truly vigorous. Such examinations are possible with the expenditure of very little time. All of the teachers of an ordinary graded school, working together under intelligent supervision, can measure all the children of the school in one day. Surely no other one day in the school year could be spent to such great advantage ! How many teachers can answer such questions as these, concerning each one of her pupils: "Are you sure that every child in your class can see every portion of the blackboard distinctly? Are you sure that each of your children can hear everything said? Are there partially deaf children in your class? Is the inaction or slowness of some of them due to lack of motor ability, or disease? Do you know the amount of work, mental or manual, done by each child outside of school? How much exercise does each take? Ought not teachers to be able to answer these and a hundred other questions concerning the child's physical nature, before she can do her full duty by him? Such a system of physical education and of measurements and examinations will furnish answers to all these and many other questions. Then, the matter of adjusting the school work, and the out-of-doors exercise, and corrective gymnastics, to the needs of the individual, comes within range of the possible. Not very long ago a boy was sent to the State Industrial School for a serious offense. A careful investigation of his rec-

THE BOY PROBLEM. 373 @rd brought out these facts: His career as a delinquent began as a truant, and ran through the series: incorrigibility, growing up in idleness, associating with immoral persons, and finally the crime which made necessary such a sentence. A study of this boy demonstrated that he had defective vision, and had never been placed in school so that he could see the work on the blackboard. He was regarded as dull. His teacher said she could not interest him or get along with him, and he soon became a truant. Who knows but that his whole career would have been changed, if his teacher had possessed a little definite knowledge of his physical condition? Every delinquent child is an educational problem, and the schools should set themselves the task of solving them. A department of child study in the public schools, where the principals and other trained observers would undertake to study each one of the truant or incorrigible children, would be the rational thing. Then, mothers and fathers who have difficulty would bring before such a body of humane observers their delinquent children, with full confidence that they would be studied in a careful and scientific way, and with confidence, too, that their total environment would be so ordered as to bring the best educational result in each individual case. To confine a boy or girl in a school with the stigma of penal institution attaching to it, without first having given him or her the advantage of such observation, is, to say the least, and in the language of the boy himself, not a "square deal." Why do not the schools introduce such reforms? The schools are ultra- conservative institutions, from the universities down, and|they change mostly as they are forced to do so by pressure from without. It is the part of the people themselves to demand such changes, and then they will be forthcoming. Again, the schools themselves desire to make changes, but the parents will not hear of it, — for example, the teachers would gladly do away with the present insane method of grading and marking their pupils, if the parents would permit it. Every teacher knows whether the child in her class deserves promotion, not by the work it has done, but by what she has observed in the child, and knows of its ability. So we come back again to the proposition — better parents — parents who know what the school should be and do, because, at best, it

374 IMPROVEMENT ERA. is only an adjunct to the home. Better parents mean better teachers and better schools, as well as better homes. Salt Lake City. Utah.