PHYSICAL DEVIATIO?^S AMONG CHILDREN IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 435 



.appears probable that, to a great extent, such defects may be rendered less 

 numerous among the population by hygienic care with regard to buildings, 

 light and air, &c. 



As to children presenting irregularities of the nerve-system, their 

 careful training may do much to prevent them from growing up perma- 

 nently nervous or mentally dull. Many children unconsciously imitate 

 habits of listlessness, inattention, carelessness, and even the appearances 

 of fatigue and hysteria from one another, or from their teachers. 



The knowledge gained renders it possible to indicate the kind of 

 training adapted to any case described. This particularly applies to the 

 nerve-signs, or irregularities in nerve-action recorded. After pointing out 

 to the teacher the irregularities present in the child, so that their increase 

 or decrease can be watched during class work, indications may be given as 

 to the best modes of removing these special nervous and mental defects. 

 That such explanations may be understood by the teachers it is very 

 desirable that they should receive some special instruction. Economy in 

 the labour of teachers might thus be effected, and better educational 

 results obtained. 



School organisation by the teachers is mainly founded upon their 

 experience of the child's mental ability and work in school. This takes 

 time, and frequently a new pupil is not placed in a suitable standard till 

 some weeks of experience show the child's mental capacity. A knowledge 

 of the points observed in this inquiry might facilitate the responsible work 

 of classification for educational purposes. 



Two standards frequently, though not always, met with in a school 

 call for special remark. In Standard 0, or Primers, the children are col- 

 lected who, being over age for the infant school, are still too backward 

 for Standard I. In Standard Ex. VII. we find the children who have 

 passed through the ordinary classes of the school. The experience of 

 hospital physicians and many philanthropic societies shows that neglect of 

 feeble-minded children of all grades leads to much social evil. The blind 

 and the deaf are happily now cared for under the provisions of the Ele- 

 mentary Education Act, 1893, and teachers are specially ti-ained for this 

 work ; but the children of the various grades of feebleness short of imbecility, 

 children who present a deficiency, are in many schools unwelcome, and no 

 encouragement is given to school authorities to collect and care for them ; 

 they are an incumbrance if not properly provided for, and untrained they 

 tend to social failure, pauperism, and criminality. Mere accumulations of 

 dull children in a certain class, whether a class of Primers, or in a lower 

 section of Standard III. for older children, may make the other class- 

 rooms brighter, but, when children below average power are accumulated, 

 there arises a greater responsibility for their individual care, which must 

 be met by the provision of a sufiicient staff of specially trained teachers. 

 Scientific advice as to the management of deficient children is useful, but 

 teachers must carry out the details of special training. Nurses for the 

 sick are now highly trained and well paid ; they take an intelligent in- 

 terest in the patients ; the more difficult the case, and the more attention 

 it requires, the greater are their interest and desire for success. Training 

 of teachers for the care of the more difficult children, and honour for the 

 hard work of improving feeble children, may cultivate a higher professional 

 interest among a body of skilled teachers trained to the charge of feeble 

 children. Considerable success has been achieved in training the blind 

 and the deaf, and a large proportion of the feeble children are improvable. 



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