Pedagogical Anthropology

by Maria Montessori

That nutrition has a noteworthy influence upon growth, and therefore upon the definitive limits of stature, is exhaustively proved by statistics.

In his brilliant studies of the poorer classes, Niceforo has collected the following average statures:[21]

Age	Stature (in centimetres)
	Children
	Rich	Poor
7 years	120	116
8 years	126	122
9 years	129	123
10 years	134	128
11 years	135	134
12 years	140	138
13 years	144	140
14 years	150	146

from which it appears that, in spite of the strong biological impulse given by the attainment of puberty, the children of the poor continue to show a stature lower than that of the well-to-do. Alĕs Hrdlĭcka has compiled the following comparative table of the poor or orphaned children received into the asylums, and the pupils of the public schools in Boston:

Stature of American children
Boys
Age in years	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16
In asylums	971	1088	1172	1163	1234	1261	1315	1367	1424	1452	1518	—
in Boston public schools	1060	1120	1176	1223	1272	1326	1372	1417	1477	1551	1599	1665
Girls
In asylums	—	—	1101	1158	1204	1289	1290	—	—	1398	—	—
in Boston public schools	1052	1109	1167	1221	1260	1315	1366	1452	1492	1532	1559	1567

Even after reaching the adult age these differences are maintained, as may be shown by the following statistics taken from various authorities:

Average statures obtained from soldiers (in centimetres)
Italians		English		French
Students and professional men	167	Professional men	175	Students	169
Tradesmen	165	Merchants	172	Domestics	166
Peasants	164	Peasants	171	Day labourers	165
		City employees	169

from which it appears that while in Italy the class of labourers having the lowest stature is the peasant class, which lives under the most deplorable economic conditions, in England on the contrary it is the workers in the cities who live under worse economic conditions than the peasantry, it being well known that the English peasant is the most prosperous in the agricultural world.

According to Livi, it is nutrition which causes the differences of average stature that are usually to be found between different social classes, and those between the inhabitants of mountains and of plains, or between the dwellers on the mainland and on the islands. In general the mountain-bred peasants have a lower stature than those of the plains; and this is because the means of procuring food are fewer and harder in mountainous regions.