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Poverty Bay Standard, Volume XI, Issue 1351, 4 September 1883, Page 2

Acting upon a suggestion thrown out a short time ago, a meeting is called for to-night to consider the question of home lessons. Now there is little doubt but what the system acts prejudicially on a certain class of weakly nervous children, who, after a certain amount of study, are mentally prostrated and fagged out. To impose home work on such as these is manifestly useless and cruel, and it is clearly the duty of parents, who certainly must be acknowledged to be in the best position to judge as to their children’s mental capacity and strength, to protest and to use every means in their power to discourage the imposing of any excessive strain upon those, whom we may call mental invalids. To such as those the home task is a great punishment and instead of profiting by them, the child is frequently so “ worked out ” that it becomes habitually stupid, and unable to grasp any single one of the many subjects sought to be inculcated, It also robs the little one of the one bright spot of its existence—its home sports and joys, and makes its life one unceasing struggle to keep pace with others in a most unequal contest. A child of this temperament requires plenty of relaxation and interval between work, inasmuch as what is comparative sport to one of robust mental health is a severe labor to such as them, and the exhaustion is felt in a corresponding degree. To give children such as these home work is cruel in the extreme, and is calculated to prove most hurtful to them mentally and physically, and it is the clear duty of every parent to use their utmost endeavors to put an end to such a hurtful practice. On the other hand there are children whom we may call mental athletes, who, the more work they have to do, the more they want, whose greatest enjoyment is battling with rudimentary science. A child of this class profit more from home work than all else. In the quietude of home, he not alone thoroughly masters his subject, but in many instances also imparts a deal of his knowledge to his brothers and sisters, who profit largely by his superior acumen and example. To give such an one as this home work, is most proper, as it would be manifestly unjust to in any way impede the efforts to acquire learning and his yearning after knowledge—-especially where, as in most cases, the child has but a limited and prescribed period to turn to account those superior mental gifts which he may be endowed with. Like all other, or most other questions, there are two aspects to it, and we must say that we believe the difficulty will be best met by allowing parents to determine as to whether a child shall have any, or what quantity, of home tasks im» posed upon it.