Jasper County Democrat, Volume 16, Number 85, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 January 1914 — Five School Hours More Tiresome Than Eight Hours of a Working Day [ARTICLE]

Five School Hours More Tiresome Than Eight Hours of a Working Day

By Professor GEORGE W. KIRCHWEY

of Columbia University

I THINK most men will agree with me that five hours a day in school for a boy or a girl is equal to eight or nine hours of . work for an adult. And I would like to know how easy it would be to find grown men and women willing to work eight or nine hours a day if they were FORBIDDEN TO STAND UP when tired of sitting down, if they sere FORBIDDEN TO SPEAK TO EACH OTHER, if they WERE NOT EVEN PERMITTED TO MOVE AROUND A LITTLE to rest themselves by change of position. Furthermore, particularly in large cities, one principal cause of breakdown on the part of high school and elementary students is insufficient nutrition and bad hygienic conditions in the school. I regard it as essential that public schools furnish a substantial luncheon.to pupils at bare cost. AT THE RISK OF INCURRING CRITICISM I AM WILLING TO' SAY THAT THE TEACHING FORCE IN MOST OF OUR ELEMENTARY AND HIGH SCHOOLS TODAY IS MADE UP OF TEACHERS WHOLLY UNFITTED FOR THEIR IMPORTANT WORK. WHAT OUR BOYS AND GIRLS NEED IS TEACHERS OF PERSONALITY. FULL OF SYMPATHY FOR THOSE IN THEIR CARE AND POSSESSING THE FACULTY OF INTERESTING PUPILS IN THEIR WORK. •6. M H x\ll over the country we have the buildings, the laboratories, the equipment, the books, but we LACK TEACHERS OF THE RIGHT KIND- As far as possible the work done in elementary and high schools should deal with the actual problems of the pupils’ daily life and be largely constructive in character, with increased attention to manual and vocational training. -