phipps] HYGIENE AS A SIXTH GRADE SUBJECT 255 



tention it deserves. It is true we may get much encourage- 

 ment from a comparison of the teaching of the subject today 

 with former conditions. On the average physiology and hy- 

 giene are now required studies in six or seven of the eight 

 elementary school years. It is doubtful however if much in- 

 tensive health teaching, as defined above, can be given before 

 the sixth grade. 



When children reach the upper grades in the elementary 

 school they have arrived at an age where a more intensive 

 study of topics relating to their environments, their own 

 healthful conduct, and to simple scientific facts may be made 

 to advantage. In nature study work the aim in the lower 

 grades is mainly to draw the child's attention to many facts 

 of nature in order to acquaint him with the world in which 

 he lives. At the sixth grade age the inquisitiveness of the 

 child begins to assert itself more strongly, and he is no longer 

 satisfied with mere acquaintance. At such an eager and im- 

 pressionable age it is a suitable time to begin the study of 

 a subject like hygiene which demands more intensive work. 



To get the best results it is better to concentrate the 

 work, covering it in one year perhaps, rather than making 

 very feeble and infrequent attempts all through the grades. 

 This would mean that more time than the usual two half- 

 hour weekly periods should be given to the work. 



The public is becoming more interested in this subject, 

 and is desiring more and better training of the children in 

 personal and community health. This increased interest is 

 due partly to the fact that much has been accomplished in 

 recent years in the improvement of public health. The advance 

 in scientific knowledge, with the accompanying agitations and 

 reforms, has emphasized the need of better training of the 

 child in hygiene and sanitation. 



Professor Huxley long ago truly said that "the learning 

 how to meet one's environment constitutes a liberal educa- 

 tion." Learning how to meet one's environment, and follow- 

 ing hygienic rules are matters of education and habit, and 

 boys and girls should be educated to form right and useful 

 habits. Laws cannot make a community healthy, happy and 

 useful ; education is the fundamental basis of this, and such 

 education should begin early in the life of the individual, but 

 not too early for a proper understanding and appreciation of 

 it. Children in the sixth grade are able to think for them- 

 selves, and hygiene trains them in better thinking when pre- 



