OVER-EDUCATING CHILDREN.
A singular question has arisen within the last few months in reference to the education of young children in our public and National Schools, and that is the somewhat startling query: Is not the present system of ‘cramming’ very young children not only inexpedient, but dangerous to brain and life, in trying to force too much ‘book-learning’ into small minds ill fitted for its reception? Many thoughtful people have of late given much attention to this interesting question; but the whole subject has at last been forced upon the notice of the public in a manner as tragic as it was unexpected. Two young children have lately suffered miserable deaths in consequence of overwork, in other words, over-education. One of these children, in the delirium of brain-fever, continually cried out, with every expression of pain and distress: ‘I can’t do it—I can’t do it!’ alluding, of course, to the difficult sum or long lesson which had been given her; and so the poor little overtaxed brain gave way, fever set in, and death speedily put an end to her sufferings.
Now this is very sad, and surely need not, and ought not, to be even possible. To put a higher and better class of education than was meted out to our forefathers within the reach of all, is one of the grandest systems of the present enlightened age—a system to which no sane person could possibly object. But even this blessing may be overdone, through the indiscreet zeal of teachers, until it becomes a curse, instead of what it really ought to be, a blessing. The body of man, acted on by the unerring laws of Nature, plainly rebels against all overdosing, whether it be in food, drink, exercise, heat or cold, and clearly indicates a limit—‘Thus far, and no farther.’ So it is with the brain. Children are not all constituted alike, and it is certain that all should not be treated in the same manner in the training either of their bodies or their minds. One boy will develop great muscular strength, and distinguish himself in athletic games and gymnasium practice. But will it be pretended because A and B can do this to their advantage, that C and D, who do not possess the physical requisites, should also be compelled to go through the same course? What must be the consequence? An utter breakdown. So is it with the mental organisation; a point which seems to be the last thing that many teachers take the trouble to study, or even to think of. All the children who attend the school—to use a homely but truthful saying—must be ‘tarred with the same brush,’ no matter what their capacity or ability. The weak sensitive mind, lacking both ready intelligence and quick perception, is to be ‘crammed’ and overdosed with learning for the reception of which it is unfitted; whilst no allowance is made for want of ability. And all this in obedience to the Revised Code of the Education Department, the principles of which have been denounced as not seldom producing more evil than good, and serving only to degrade the higher aims of true education. The consequences of this system, when it is overdone, are that the mind gives way, and brain-fever and death are the painful results. As far as the public have heard as yet, only two deaths of children have been recorded as having been produced by over-pressure of the brain in schools; but it is not improbable that if two have occurred in this way, that these are by no means all. It is also possible that a child may sicken and die from this overwork without its parents at all suspecting the real cause.
The question is now fairly before the public; and a large and influential meeting was held on the 27th of March last in Exeter Hall, under the presidency of the Earl of Shaftesbury, ‘to protest against the existing over-pressure in elementary schools.’ The most remarkable resolution was moved by Dr Forbes Winslow, a gentleman who, from his great professional experience, was well able to give a fair opinion on a question of brain-work and brain-pressure. This resolution was to the effect: ‘That, in the opinion of this meeting, a serious amount of over-pressure, injurious to the health and education of the people, exists in the public elementary schools of the country, and demands the continued and serious attention of Her Majesty’s government.’ The resolution then goes on to condemn the Revised Code, adding, that ‘if the recent changes even alleviate, they will not remove, this over-pressure.’
Other resolutions passed at this meeting also referred to the excessive brain-pressure exercised in schools, and deprecated the Code generally, especially the inelastic conditions under which the Education grant is administered, the excessive demands of the Code itself, and the defects of inspection. The system of ‘classification’ was also severely condemned by one speaker, who added these remarkable words: ‘Ingenious cruelty could not have provided a more ruinous system than that of payment by results. All the children were ground upon the same grindstone, without reference to their capacity; and accordingly as they were ground up or ground down to the very same level, so was the percentage of public money handed over.’ It was also insisted that teachers should classify according to ability, and not merely according to age; a wise and salutary suggestion, which, if carried out, would undoubtedly save much useless over brain-work, for it would follow that, where a child was found to be of a low order of intellect, cramming and over-pressure would be futile, and therefore not attempted, as being simply loss of time. But where children are placed according to age only in one particular class, it follows that all constituting that class—dull or bright—are to be crammed exactly alike, whether they can bear it or not, and the consequence must be that whilst the intelligent advance rapidly, the stupid break down entirely. Such a system, added to the principle of payment by results, can be productive of nothing but disaster.
The question has recently been before both Houses of Parliament; but Mr Stanley Leighton unfortunately lost his motion by a majority of forty-nine. His motion was to the effect, that children under seven should not be presented for examination—that greater liberty should be given to teachers to classify according to abilities and acquirements, and not age only—and that a large share of the grant should depend on attendance, and a smaller upon individual examinations. Mr Leighton concluded by saying that ‘the existing over-pressure was killing not only children, but teachers as well.’
As this important subject has at length been fairly ventilated, it will probably not be allowed to drop until something has been attempted to modify and re-arrange much that now exists in the objectionable Revised Code. Nothing, however, will accomplish this much-desired result but agitation and pressure in the right quarters, and public opinion must make itself both heard and felt.
GAS COOKING-STOVES.
BY AN ANALYTICAL CHEMIST.
A short time ago, it was feared that the electric light would quickly and entirely supersede gas as an illuminating agent; and whether it eventually did so or not, there was no doubt that in the future it would prove a formidable rival. Those who were most interested in gas, foreseeing the inevitable change, whilst improving the positions they occupied so prominently and so long, sought new fields for the application of gas, in which they might hold their own, and probably more than their own, against the conquering rival. The application of gas to cooking purposes was one of the results, and, as experience has since proved, was a very useful and beneficial one. The writer has had a gas cooking-stove for some time in his possession, and offers, therefore, for the benefit of others the results of personal experience.