202. Pupils, while standing during recitations, often inadvertently assume the attitude represented by fig. 49, and it is the duty of teachers to correct this position when assumed. When a child or adult has contracted a habit of stooping, and has become round-shouldered, it can be measurably, and generally, wholly, remedied by moderate and repeated efforts to bring the shoulders back, and the spinal column in an erect 99 position. This deformity can and should be remedied in our schools. It may take months to accomplish the desired end, yet it can be done as well under the direction of the kind instructor, as under the stern, military drill sergeant, who never fails to correct this deformity among his raw recruits.
200. What suggestion when it is necessary to call into action a part of the muscular system? Give the experiment that illustrates this principle. 201. Why should a child he taught to stand erect? 202. How can round shoulders acquired by habit be remedied?
Fig. 50.
Fig. 50. A proper position in sitting.
203. The child should be taught to sit erect when employed in study or work. This attitude favors a healthy action of the various organs of the system, and conduces to beauty and symmetry of form. Scholars are more or less inclined to lean forward and place the elbow on the table or desk, for support 100 and this is often done when their seats are provided with backs. Where there is a predisposition to curvature of the spine, no position is more unfavorable or more productive of deformities than this; for it is usually continued in one direction, and the apparent deformity it induces is a projection of the shoulders. If the girl is so feeble that she cannot sit erect, as represented by fig. 50, let her stand or recline on a couch; either is preferable to the position represented by fig. 51. In furnishing school-rooms, care should be taken that the desks are not so low as to compel the pupils to lean forward in examining their books.
203. Why should the erect attitude be assumed in sitting?
Fig. 51.