386 POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



which a young child may receive instruction, the method through the 

 printed book is pre-eminently the one ill fitted to him. 



The evil of this method is aggravated by the fact that, before the 

 child can receive instruction through the book, a long time — several 

 years, in fact — is spent in the confining task of learning to read. It 

 comes about, therefore, that the child, at the very age when he should 

 be leading a free and expansive life, is obliged to fix his eyes upon 

 the narrow page of a book and decipher small printed symbols, in 

 themselves devoid of life and interest. With respect to writing and 

 learning to write the case is worse. A considerable amount of motor 

 specialization is involved in forming letters upon the blackboard, but 

 when the pencil and pen are used it becomes of an extreme kind. In 

 the whole life history of the man there are no movements requiring 

 finer co-ordination than those of writing with pencil or pen, yet our 

 school system requires these of the child of six or seven years, makes 

 them, indeed, a prominent part of elementary school life. In addi- 

 tion to the motor specialization of reading and writing is the physical 

 confinement in the narrow seat and desk which is necessarily con- 

 nected with them. The child of six or seven has not reached the age 

 when such confinement is natural or safe. 



The injuries which I have mentioned relate to the nervous system 

 as a whole. There are other injuries resulting from the reading habit 

 in young children which concern the eyes directly. So much has 

 been said and written lately about the increase of myopia and other 

 defects of the eye among school children, that I shall merely refer to 

 this subject here. Upon entering school, children are practically free 

 from these defects. Upon leaving school, a strikingly large percent- 

 age are suffering from them, more, however, as yet, in European 

 countries than in America. The causes are many, but it is scarcely 

 doubted that the chief cause is found in bending over finely printed 

 books and maps, and fine writing, pencil work, and drawing. If pen- 

 cils, pens, paper, and books could be kept away from children until 

 they are at least ten years of age, and their instruction come directly 

 from objects and from the voice of the teacher, this evil could be 

 greatly lessened. 



If the above reasons for not teaching reading and writing to 

 young children were the only ones, the objections could to a certain 

 extent be overcome. Writing might, for instance, be practiced only on 

 the blackboard with large free-hand movements, and letters could be 

 taught from large forms upon charts. But we have to consider the 

 questions whether reading and writing are in themselves branches of 

 instruction which belong to the early years of school life, whether 

 they may not be acquired at a great disadvantage at this period, and 

 whether more time is not spent upon them than is necessary. It is a 



