Severe mental work can not be compensated for by severe physical work. It is rest for the will which is required, and the will is rested not by a new tension of its exercise, but by a state of collapse such as comes when caprice and arbitrariness and the yielding to one's humor succeeds the tension of work. Plato's description of the Greek athletes, stupid and lazy fellows, who did nothing but eat and sleep, describes the condition of rest after severe physical exercise, and still more the true condition of rest of the intellectual athlete after severe mental exercise. I have here enumerated some of the results of injudicious physical exercise. The effects of judicious exercise are those which are usually described in works of hygiene and physical training. I quote an enumeration of them from Dr. Ray Lankester to show how simple the whole matter looks when the precautions are omitted. Nearly all things seem simple when taken out of their relation to their environment. He says: The employment of the muscles in exercise not only benefits their especial structure, but acts on the whole system. When the muscles are put in action the capillary blood vessels with which they are supplied become more rapidly charged with blood, and active changes take place, not only in the muscles but in all the surrounding tissues. The heart is required to supply more blood, and accordingly beats more rapidly in order to meet the demand. A large quantity of blood is sent through the lungs, and larger supplies of oxygen are taken in and carried to the various tissues. The oxygen, by combining with the carbon of the blood and the tissues, engenders a larger quantity of heat, which produces an action on the skin, in order that the superfluous warmth may be disposed of. The skin is thus exercised, as it were, and the sudoriparous and sebaceous glands are set at work. The lungs and skin are brought into operation, and the lungs throw off large quantities of water containing in solution matters which, if retained, would produce disease in the body. Wherever the blood is sent, changes of a healthful character occur. The brain and the rest of the nervous system are invigorated, the stomach has its powers of digestion improved, and the liver, pancreas, and other organs perform their functions with more vigor. By want of exercise the constituents of the food which pass into the blood are not oxidized, and products which produce disease are engendered. The introduction of fresh supplies of oxygen induced by exercise oxidizes these products and renders them harmless. All other things being the same, it may be laid down as a rule that those who take the most exercise in the open air will live longest. But the student who reads of these direct effects without, at the same time, carefully learning the indirect effects on digestion and sleep and mental work or worry will be likely to neutralize all the good that comes from physical exercise. The teacher who, full of faith in calisthenic exercise, thinks to do away with the old-fashioned recess and to gain a positive benefit by physical training, will fall into serious errors. A consideration of the conditions of the problem will show this. Within the school the pupil is supposed to be under a severe strain of discipline and attention to study. Regularity, punctuality, silence, conformity to rules as to sitting or standing, strict self-control on the part of the pupil, and a forced attention to his lesson, or to the recitation of his fellow-pupils, or to the explanations of his teacher-all this produces a great tension of physical and mental powers. If it were continued too long, congestion would be produced, affecting the heart or brain or digestive functions, or some local nerve center. Past experience, noting this fact, has endeavored to avoid the danger by establishing the interval of rest and recreation known as the "recess." The pupils are all dismissed from the school building and removed from the school restraints for an interval of a few minutes. The pupil leaves the close air of the schoolroom and rushes out into the pure air, suddenly relieved from the cramp of muscles in sitting in a particular position on a hard seat, and relieved likewise from the cramp of nervous energy that has been diverted from natural functions of digestion, circulation, and secretion, and concentrated on the conscious processes of attention and obedience to the external commands of the teacher or to his own self-imposed industry. The chief use of the "recess" is its complete suspension of tension of will power and the surrender to caprice for a brief interval. Any form of calisthenics or gymnastic exercise is therefore a diversion of the recess from its normal function. It is the substitution of one kind of tension of the will for another. The tension of the will requisite to perform properly the requirements of school discipline and instruction is such as to withdraw the nervous energy from those great centers of secretion and circulation, stomach, heart, kidneys, liver, lungs. Congestion, as before said, is easily initiated, and if continued will produce functional derangements connected with the organs of digestion and circulation. The seeds of indigestion, renal weakness, liver complaint, constipation, even of fearful scourges like Bright's disease, may be sown in the system in early years by injudicious confinement in the schoolroom. The great physical need of the pupil is relaxation. The pupil needs to stretch his cramped muscles and send the blood in torrents through his limbs, which have become torpid with disuse. The pupil is in want of fresh air and of the deep inflation of the lungs that exercise in the open air gives. He ought to use his voice, too. The reformers propose to substitute light exercises called "calisthenics" for the purpose of supplying all these wants. They will throw open the windows and let in fresh air; they will have a system of well-devised movements which will give the needed circulation of the blood, etc. Calisthenic exercise serves a good place in the schoolroom, but its most important function is not a physiological one. It is true that the blood is caused to circulate more vigorously through the limbs and those parts of the body that have become partly torpid with sitting or standing still. But the chief demand upon the pupil in calisthenics is the requirement to strain his attention and exercise his will. It is a will training to a greater extent than a physiological training. The great distinction between work and play is this one: In play, the mind is spontaneous, governed entirely by its own individuality; in work, the will power is exercised to conform its individuality to some externally prescribed course of action. Calisthenic exercise is severe work, and not by any means a relaxation. But the child needs relaxation and not merely a change of work, although the change is of some benefit. Exercise of the limbs, in accordance with a prescribed formula, is not the thing that nature requires. The child has been exercising his will in the four directions of selfcontrol: To be regular, punctual, silent, and industrious; now giving his attention to the mastery of some subject by himself, and anon, fol lowing with alertness and critical acumen the recitation of some fellowpupil, or some explanation or direction by the teacher. Calisthenics does not afford relief to the will power. We have seen that all exercise of the will, in the act of fixed and unremitting attention, has a powerful influence over the digestive, circulatory, and secretory functions of the body. This influence, if not intermitted, will cause derangement of these functions. A run in the open air, a saunter at will, or a vigorous game with one's fellows, free from restraint or authority-any exercise, in short, of the spontaneous choice of the pupil, will give this desirable relief to the lungs, the heart, the stomach, the glands, and the ganglia. Our medical advisers who supervise gymnastic exercises are in process of correcting the evils and extending the benefits of physical education. Their best service is to be along the line of enlightening the student who is on the verge (or beyond the verge) of nervous prostration how to build anew his nerves. For they will teach him the function of sleep and amusement; of rest before and after meals; of the danger of following a mental strain of the will by another strain of the will directed to the muscles; of the danger of exercise late at night; of the danger of tobacco and alcoholic liquors. We shall have science instead of quackery. These good things belong mostly to the physical education of the future. THE AGE OF WITHDRAWAL FROM THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. In Chapter XVI I print a valuable essay of Prof. C. M. Woodward, of St. Louis, on the method of ascertaining the average age of withdrawal from public schools. CLASSIFICATION IN GRADED SCHOOLS. At the present time there is much inquiry for literature on the subject of grading in city schools and the proper length of class intervals. I have brought together in Chapter XV several discussions written on the advantages and defects of the graded system, and especially concerning the importance of classifying with short intervals between classes in order to render possible frequent promotions of those pupils making the most rapid progress. SUMMER SCHOOLS, ETC. In Chapter XXIX I have printed a history of summer schools in the United States prepared especially for this Bureau by Dr. W. W. Willoughby. In recent years the summer school has become a very important means of extending school and university advantages to adult persons. State university organization.-In Chapter XXII I have presented an important suggestion of Dr. S. S. Laws, formerly president of the State University of Missouri, looking toward the federation of the colleges or universities of a State under the leadership of a State university. It seems possible that this idea may be adopted in some of our States to great advantage. West Point Military School.—An excellent article on our national Military School at West Point is found in Chapter XXIV. It was prepared by Prof. E. S. Holden, of Lick Observatory. Truants and incorrigibles.-In Chapter XXV I print one of the most thoughtful and wise articles yet written on the care of truants and incorrigibles, prepared by the superintendent of city schools, Boston, Mass. Education in Alaska.-In Chapter XXVIII 'Dr. Sheldon Jackson, the United States general agent for education in Alaska, reports the work of the year for that Territory. He gives an account of the first trip to Siberia for the purchase of reindeer. Hon. HOKE SMITH, Secretary of the Interior. Wм. T. HARRIS, Commissioner. PART I. CHAPTER I. GENERAL CLASSIFIED SUMMARY OF PUPILS OF ALL General table-Per tent of the population under instruction—Also of the school population-Proportion of each grade of instruction, and of public and private instruction— Higher students and population compared-Distribution of students in professional schools-Sex of secondary pupils and of college students-Female college students compared with the population-Proportion in each class of institutions—Normal school pupils. The following table (Table 1) gives the number of pupils of all grades in the United States,* classified according to grade of instruction imparted, instead of according to the character of institution attended. Thus, all secondary pupils in colleges have been classed as secondary; and all elementary pupils as elementary, even though attending (in the "preparatory" department) an institution of secondary grade. The statistics of private elementary education have never been completely gathered, and the figures in Column 3 are, therefore, largely estimated; they are known to be much less than the facts would warrant, and should possibly be increased as much as 50 per cent. The returns of pupils receiving secondary instruction, both public and private, are also incomplete. *Excluding in general evening schools; art, industrial training, trades, and private business schools; schools for the defective, dependent, and delinquent classes, and Indian schools. These collectively enroll a considerable number of pupils. ED 92 -1 1 |