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Show DEFECTS IN AMERICAN HOMES By V. T. THAYER, Director Ethical Culture School. America is becoming a nation of adults. In 1790 there were 780 adults for each 1,000 children; whereas in 1900 there were 1,580. Today the proportion is about 2 to 1. . Children are in danger of becoming swamped in an- atmosphere planned mainly for the convenience of adults. The home, former stronghold strong-hold of the child, is breaking up and being replaced by the school. People move oftener from house to house. Members of the family work and play more outside the family circle. There is a steady disintegration disinte-gration of family bonds and constructive family influences. Labor-saving devices and the necessary crowding of families into small living quarters combine to take out of the home the activities which formerly gave the child a first-hand knowledge of the ways human beings secure for themselves the basic essentials of food, clothing and shelter. No matter how widely the tenement house and the luxurious apartment apart-ment hotel may differ in the comforts of life, they are at one in their disregard for the needs of child life. The former drives the child into the streets, while the latter restricts his activities to an environment dominated dom-inated by adults. |