Heuristic Method in Hygiene 



) 



Herbert Spencer's pungent arraignment of the educational 

 met: his day h ed a marked effect on subsequent 



I literature. It was doubtless true as he declared that 

 the matter and manner of education sevent 

 so widely from what they should have been that the right das 

 withheld and the wrong class fordbly administ 

 in tl and in the wrong order. 



His argument for such a revolution of the curriculum as 

 would give the subjects of study a position and prominence in 

 accordance with their respective values for complete living was 

 irrefutable. The know! needful for the com- 



prehen general truths and their bearings on early life 



is all-essential and should rank first in time and importance in any 



stem of education. This dogma of Herbert Spenc ; 

 which rrd new when he advanced it is now seldom 



disputed, but its acceptance is more obvious in the literature than 

 in the practice of school management. 



It is true that nearly every state and province that has an 

 educational system gives hy; a place somewhere in its list of 



studies. In this Provinc e - it appears in the curriculum 



of the common school grades, but it has never been the rthy 



the high school or "grammar" grades. For a ; ears 

 a minimum of one third of an easy examination paper was one 

 the requirements for entrance to the high school grades. The 

 matter prescribed :udy and examination was not exception- 



able ; the reason for referring to the experience here is to show 

 that this "all-essential" knowledge if communicated by the book 

 and note for the memoriter) method may be nearly value' 

 An eighth grade class that had just written on a review ansv 

 ne effect that the liver bile, weighs nearly 4 pounds, 



the largest organ in the body and is situated immediately below 

 the diaphragm were unable to locate it on being directed to lay 

 the hand over it. They had no concept of the gall-bladder and 

 bile was only a name to them. They knew the names and num- 

 bers of the different kinds of teeth, but only guessed when asked 

 lay a finger tip on one of their bicuspids. They could all state 

 in writing the injurious effects of neglecting to clean the teeth, 

 but only looked around at each other and smiled as children do 

 sometimes on finding themselves caught when those were told to 

 e thdr hands who had brushed thdr teeth that day. 



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