COXDITIOXS OF HEALTH ESSENTIAL FOR CARRYIXG OX L\.STRUCTIOX. 493 



Notes hy Miss Ravenhill. 



Most certificated teachers have 'got up' the subject from some text- 

 book in order to take the Science and Art Department ' Elementary 

 Hygiene' certificate. This is usually found practicable after fifteen or 

 twenty hours' memorising of statements. A considerable number of 

 teachers attend a courso of instruction which, almost without exception, 

 consists of theoretical lectures, sometimes illustrated with a few experi- 

 ments, occasionally by models, but more often only by diagrams. 



There is little or no evidence of any practical application of the informa- 

 tion acquired, and no linking it with the formation of habits, either — 



(1) in the regulation of individual life and personal health ; 



(2) in the schools or class-rooms where daily work is carried on ; 



(3) in the lessons given to the children, should such be included in 

 the time-tables. 



For this I account by the following reasons :— 



{a) The force of habit, which leads to unquestioned acceptance of 

 what is {i.e., of a low standard of health, of bad conditions for work, &c.). 



(b) The absence of training in the application of school or colleo-e 

 studies to the problems of life. Hitheito most subjects have been 

 memorised for teaching purposes, rather than studied to form character 

 and to influence action. 



(c) The want of encouragement from inspectors or school authorities, 

 themselves frequently deficient in appreciation of the great importance of 

 hygiene in school life. Suggestions on sanitary reforms or requests for 

 amendment of faulty conditions by well-informed teachers are not 

 unusually met with indifference, occasionally even by unpleasant rebuflfs 

 and hints that a repetition of such interference will mean a ' black mark ' 

 against its author's name. 



(d) The deadening eff'ect of work carried on under pressure, often 

 under unwholesome conditions of air, which reduces energy to a minimum. 



(e) The English point of view that ' someone else ' is responsible ; and 

 that the eflPorts of one solitary individual must be futile — therefore to make 

 them is useless. 



My experience shows these teachers to be quickly aroused to a 

 profound self-sacrificing interest in, and appreciation of the importance of 

 hygiene. Their enthusiasm makes them active in the desire to apply such 

 knowledge as soon as they grasp the fact that opportunities for doinw so 

 exist. They ai-e delighted also with the educational possibilities the 

 subject affords, but they find themselves checked and their hands tied.by 

 the attitude of their authoi-ities. Speaking generally, little encouragement 

 is given to pursue the study with thoroughness ; no special incentive is as 

 yet offered for its practical acquirement ; while the prevalent ignorance 

 of what constitutes school hygiene among authorities, the fact that /. .<f. d. 

 must be their first consideration in the supposed interests of the rate- 

 payers, and the custom of entrusting the care and regulation of school 

 buildings chiefly to untrained caretakers, limits very seriously a te^ichers 

 opportunities for direct application of hygienic knowledge. 



