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Show Children Learn More In Half a Day Than If Kept In School Room Longer By HOYT E. DEARHOLT Director Umveriily of Wisconsin Health Bureau Two Milwaukee, woman teachers have been lining some very advanced fiiinkin and have conducted an experiment, the results of which 'offer a r.-:it contribution toward the' health of si hoolchihlreii. For years they Jiavc heen utilizing their opportunities to ob-'-rve children, and long ago came to the conclusion that keeping children in school for long hours was d'.lcating its ou ii (jtie ol.ject. They paw tile "pep" that t he children brought t .school in the fall run out toward spring; they saw dancing, (sparkling eyes, so characteristic of the beginning of the school term, take on an C'pially charactei'isl ic ami il isipiiel ing end-of-term look in the spring. This diil not Hcem right to these women. Being themselves vigorous-jiiinded, vigorous-jiiinded, they refused to consider it right simply because it existed. They therefore began a quiet, persistent fight for the life of their idea that a few hours of concentration in school is worth more than many hours of mere time-serving. I have had a chance to observe that experiment closely, and I am no 'S3 enthusiastic than the teachers about the result. I believe that they are absolutely right when they declare that not alone can as, much as, but; more, learning bo accomplished in a half-day session than in a whole day. What is lost in drill-time is made tip many times over by fhe condition of the children's bodies, which are kept vigorous by outdoor play. An equally important factor is that their young minds don't go stale !y being pushed up to and a little beyond the resilient point each day. Children's minds and bodies are not unlike rubber bands, which work best and last longest when neither stretched too far nor left idle for long in the storage box. |