1 64 THE XA TC RE-STUD Y RE I r IE W [ 2 . 5 -may, ,906 



HYGIENE IN THE ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS 



BY BERTHA M. BROWN 

 State Normal School, Hyannis, Mass. 



If there is one hopeful feature about the public schools of today, 

 it is their improvement. We are all familiar with a day's program in 

 an elementary school at the present time. There is the usual succes- 

 sion of lessons in arithmetic, grammar, writing, and geography, 

 relieved somewhat by nature-study, music, physical culture, and 

 manual training. Comparing the program of fifteen years ago with 

 that of today, we note that some new subjects have appeared, others 

 have dropped out. But what can we say of those subjects that appear 

 in both programs ? 



In arithmetic of former times, we should have heard the children 

 recite long rules and solve still harder problems. Today, we may 

 find them at work on problems more or less connected with practical 

 life. We may even find them solving problems by the shortest and 

 the quickest methods. In geography, naming all the capes, bodies 

 of water, rivers, and lakes of a continent was considered the goal of 

 ambition. Today that is changed, we find children making a map of 

 their own neighborhood or town; educators have discovered home 

 geography. In the study of foreign countries, the people and their 

 industries now claim their proper amount of attention. In grammar, 

 it was formerly thought necessary to parse every word in Gray's 

 " Elegy in the Country Churchyard." .Today, the amount of time 

 given to technical grammar is limited and more time is given to 

 literature. 



The question now arises, can we point to a similar gain in the teach- 

 ing of that subject called in the course of study, anatomy, physiology 

 and hygiene ? Formerly, most of the time allotted to this subject was 

 devoted to the effects of alcoholic stimulants. The text-books for 

 grammar and even primary schools taught about cells and other 

 microscopic anatomy. We should indeed have to make a careful 

 search if we are to find many improvements in the teaching of this 

 subject. Perhaps time would be better spent in suggesting 

 improvements. 



The teaching of hygiene is only one part of a larger subject, 

 namely, the good health of children. The teacher is only partly 

 responsible for the good health of the children under her care. She 

 shares with the parents, the school principal, the superintendent, and 



