ALCOHOLOGY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 49, 7 June 1910, Page 3

ALCOHOLOGY.

IN OUR SCHOOLS. {Published by Arrangement). According to the "Daily News" report of the last meeting of* the Board of Education, they have instructed the teachers to put in their .school rooms posters or wall sheets on temperance. In connection with this it may be well to notice what is being done in conservative old England in the matter of temperance teaching. It has been a long process of education and agitation brought to bear on the education authorities, extending over mone than a generation, before they could Ibe moved to do. anything towards the teaching of temperance, "in its restricted sense." However, it (has come at last; and the Board of Education for England has issued a syllabus of definite teaching in regard to alcohol. Of course, as there is no finality in this world, the position now taken is only 'preliminary, as the syllabus admits, to something more comprehensive in the near future. This pronouncement, however, lias a history behind it. As long ago as 1873 the British Medical Association resolved: "That steps ibe taken .to induce the School Boards of the country to include among the subjects of instruction in elementary, schools an accurate knowledge of the teaching of chemical and physical science respecting alcoholic liquors,.'* Then in 1904 there appeared a strong frcoal in a suiiihr. way in a petition signed -by 15,000 nudical men of England. , Icji, again, was followM l&y :tns lepffn of iiM of National Physi--e.a.l deterioration, which.. recommended that! ""national instruction be given in every school of the hind on the laws of health; including the demonstration of the evils caused by drinking."' Whilst, however, the doctors and committees were appealing to the authorities to do something in the directka or temperance teaching,- the Band of 'Hope, Unions were at work These latter engaged a st&ff of capable lecturers to visit schools, as allowed, and give instructionto teachers and scholars. They have kept up this good work for about a quarter of a century; atPtt during that time between 4000 and 5000 schools have been annually visited and *ome halfmillion elder scholars and teatfers have received instruction. Good worK has ■been done by this means, but naturally it ;\vas carried on in a somewhat iferegular manner, and .so the authorities "have come to the conclusion that tfe' time has arrived for the issue of an ofii--cial syllabus to which all instruction in temperance should conform in general character, and, to some extent, in detail." THE NEW SYLLABUS,

as it is called, is not a lengthy document, and the full text, with introduction 'by, Sir Robert Morant, the secretary to the Board, can be had for twopence from R. J. James, 3-4 London House Yard; and is well worth careful reading by parents and teachers and all interested in education generally. The introduction opens with: "It is hoped that in course of time such instruction on the subject of 'Temperance' in its restricted sense, as is suitable to public elementary schools, will be given by the regular stall' as part of the teaching of the elementary rules of personal health, which should be included in the curriculum of every school." The syllabus itself- is divided into three sections, dealing wita: (1) Eating and drinking; food and its uses. (2) Alcohol—effects of alcoholic beverages on the body. (3) 'Evil consequences of intemperance to the individual, to the home, and to the State. Section one, in dealing with articles of food, says oi beer, wine and spirits: "These things are of no real use to us, because they cannot make us grow, nor keep the body from wearing away; they cannot make us strong or warm." Again: "For tnese two reasons, therefore, beer cannot be considered to be one of the 'foods' which the 'body requires." And: "Children do not, as a rule, like the taste of alcohol; in fact, wide experience proves that alcohol is seldom any temptation to the young, but nevertheless the habit may be acquired and become a temptation later." This section concludes with: "We must also bear in mind that if alcohol is used regularly habits may not infrequently result, 'for a mere knowledge of the dangers is not a sufficient safeguard.'"