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employments not under Government supervision
the overwork of British children is still an evil
to be strongly deplored.
The overwork of children in school is just
now occupying a great deal of attention in
England/ though I am not aware that there is
much complaint in Scotland. But the proper
temperate exercise of the faculties during the
period of childhood is a matter of supreme
importance for the whole of their after life, and
the physiology of each individual child should
1 ‘ The legality of keeping in children after school hours for
non-preparation of home lessons is about to be tested in the
Queen’s Bench Division. Some Bradford people have faced
the question thus far. A memorial, signed by above fifty
medical men in that town, has just been presented to the local
School Board, praying the Board to dispense with home lessons
in the case of children under ten. It is said that inflammation
of the brain among school children has increased by 50 per
cent, since the current Education Acts came into force.’
‘ Dr. Forbes Winslow furnishes a contribution to the dis
cussion on the subject of over-pressure in schools. He says he
has been a witness to the injurious results of the present severe
mental culture, and denounces the system of cramming for the
purpose of obtaining the Government grant as being rotten at
its very foundation. After asserting that many children become
hopelessly demented, whilst others become unfitted for the
serious duties of life in consequence of the strain laid upon
them. Dr. Forbes Winslow remarks “ The question is one of
such great importance throughout England, that the sympathy
of humanity in general must be secured in the welfare of the
children of our great nation.” ’
These quotations give the extreme opinion on the question.