OUR BABIES

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3154, 4 August 1917, Page 2

OUR BABIES

rnt HvoEiA.i

I Published under the auspices of thn Society for tb« Health of Women and Children. "It is wiser to put. up a fence at tho top of a precipice than to maintain an ambutanco nt tho bottom." TRUSTEES OF THE FUTURE. i wonder who first called children the •'Triisteus of the Future" I Ono can scarcely imagine 11 happicu- inspiration or incentive to do the very beat for tbe rising generation than is conveyed in tliis prol'ound saying. Indeed, ouo wonders that its frequent citation has failed to hi-ine about, a higher general standard of etticioncy in tho rearing of infants and young children aud in tlio after-care of boys and girls throughout school life. I Tho l'lunket Society hau done so n.uoh to bring homo to tho community tho gitat injustice to tho raco, duo to tbo av.-rage modern mother failing to ii.akb the bt6t of her opportunities 111 tho nivt fev; most momentous years of her child's life, that, I am not going to insist iur'iior on thia point in tho presont artiolo. .Ictt new ray mind Iβ speoially impressed with a company of Boy Scouts I saw on thfir ?ay to join tho Bag Day proces-iion in JlMiKedin. Bands wore playing, flage flying, etreamors waving, bo that the boys marching in military formation, under tho gate of the seldom seen a more round-shouldered, public, had overy inoentlve to hold themselves well; yet wo all felt ttat wo had slouching Bquad. Youngsters, Hi'ch as theso havo no chance of raising our grade of national efficiency, unless senie radical chango takes-place in our education system and"our appreciation of the national need for strong, healthy, well-reared, well-Bet-up Tjoye and girls. NEGLECT OF THE BODY IN MODERN EDUCATIONThcro hae been a groat deal of talk about the provision in our schools for physical training; but, whilo some advance hae been made, tho time and attention given to ensuring proper linii;ly growth aud development and good physical form are still utterly inadequate and diepioportionato to what is expended en rp-call-cd "mental training." Thoro might, perhaps, bo some excuse for this favouring the mind at the . 0.1- ■ pense of the bpdy, if the mind were really benefited by ignoring the claims of tho physical side of our boinir; , lut virrwo kuow that quite tho rßvorne ie the crso there is no excuse lor continuing the double sacrifice of mind and body involved in clinging to the fatuous errors of the'last century. The Wisdom of John Locke. We havo only to go back to the timo of William and Mary in England to find the most striking refutation of our modern, one-sided education system in tho illuminating reflections of John Locke, of whom it has been said "the Germans have uniformly attributed an important part in tho foundations of education to one Englishman and one only—the philosopher Locke." In hie discourse ou "Study," Locke says:— ~ " Our bodies and our minds are neither of them capable of .continual work, and, if we take not a juet measure of our strength, in endeavouring to do a great deal we shall do nothing at all. ... I am sure the principal end why we aro to get knowledge here is to make ■ uso of it for tho benefit of ourselves . aud others in this world;, hut if by' gaining it we destroy. our health, we . labour for a thing that will bo useless in our hands. ... He that einks his vessel by overloading it, though it be with gold and silver and precious stones; will give his owner but an ill account of his voyage. Locke is best known to the world as a man of great learning and as a most profound and original thinker: but it was ! tho fact of his being a physician also I that made him realise tho absurdity of not dovoting duo timo and attention to developing the health and strength of tho body along with tho training of tho mind. Ho of all men, had he lived to a later ifcte. could have been relied on to back I up Herbert Spencer's plea, for tho rearing I of all children as "healthy animals"; and no ono realised more cloarly than Locke that the young cannot bo reared in proper health and hardihood without their spending a considerable' proportion of the day taking active exercise and recreation 111 tho open aip during sunlight. If Mβ regimen for very younff children sometimes errod on the side of Spartan rigour, the whole trend of Locke's advico as to the rearing of a strong, vigorous raceKtroiiß and well disciplined, in mind as well as in body-was full of doin and common sense. England ought to ho proud that an Englishman wrote such apssages as the following 250 yearsago; but her education authorities ought to bo ashamed that they paid no heed to the advice:— ■ . '.. ... Locko on Swimming and Air. I shall not need hero to mention Swimming, when ho i« of an ago able to learn and has anyono to teach him. It is tnat saves many a man's life; and tho Romans thought it so necessary that they ranked it with Letters, and it was the common phrase to mark one ill-educated and good for notliins that "ho had- neither learnt to read nor to 6wim"; Kcc litcras didicit neo natare. But, besidos tho gaining a Skill which may servo him at need, tho advantages to health by often hathing in cold water during tho heat of summer are so many that I think nothing need bo said to encourage it. Air. Another .thins that is of great advantage to overyone's health, but especially children's is to be much iu the open air, and littlo as may bo by the fire, even in ivintor. By this ho will accustom himself also to heat and cold, shine and rain—all which, if a man's body will not endure, it will sorvc him to very little purpose in this world; and when he is grown n'p, it is too late to begin to use him to it. It t must be eot early, and by degrees. Tllus the body may be brought to bear . almost anything. If I should advise, him to play in the wind, and sun without a hat, I dooibt whether it could be' borne. There would a thousand objections bo made against it, which at last would amount to no more, iu truth, than being sunburnt. And if my young master is to be kept always in tho shade, and never exposed to the sun and wind for fear of his complexion, it may be a good way to mako liiin a bcJiu, but not a man of business. And although greater regard be to be had lo beauty in tho daughters; yet I will tako the liberty to say that the more they aro in the air the stronger and healthier they will bo; and the nearer they come to tho hardships of their brothers in their education, the groater advantage will they receive frojn it all tho remaininc part of their lives. Have we not a right to insist, as Locko and Horbert Hpencor insisted, that an adequate proportdou of the time spent at school should! bo devoted to the growth, training, «Jid development of the body? Have wo not ft right to demand that (in addition to any timo now allowed for exercise) every boy and elrl in our Echoolj ehould have an hour taken from tho best and sunniest part of tho day for tho purpose of proporly-organi-scd and systematic exercise and rec rent ion.' The lmpotus given to their health, vigour, and spirits would bo of incstimablo value to themselves and to the race. And who would erudge the hour thus taken from wearily Wine over desks in dull, stuffy, overcrowded, ill-ventilated classrooms.- . The benefit derived by the teachers would Dβ second only to tho benefit derived _by the, pirpUs provided that tho teachers directed Sid took port in tho recreation and out"Tt this sujaremo orisie of history, with th* proofs tni results of our folly in nericotinß the first, needs of wowinis boys Sml girl" siaring us in the face, it is,lush Smo to'tickle the problem of. training tho mind without stunting and spoiling ho body Wo want a common-sense scheme o? cdm-iition-a-schcmo which will build up national physiquo ,aoid fitness, not impair it. .