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MANY MODERN ACTIVITIES DRUDGERY

As a result of our civilization, man is engaged in many kinds of work not in harmony with his instincts. He no longer engages in personal combat with his fellows except on rare occasions; the day of the hunt is about over, and there is little opportunity given him in modern life for running, jumping, chasing, etc. Instead of being a maker of things, he is a tender of a machine which does the work. It is not much of a satisfaction to his fighting instincts to have to lie in a trench and, perhaps, to be shot in the head when he is least expecting it and by somebody against whom he has no grievance. Much of man's work to-day is what we call drudgery—work that is not in harmony with his instincts. Such work tears down rather than builds up. It is like putting a machine to some use for which it was not intended; soon its parts are out of the proper adjustment and the machine is worn out. If the man who tends a machine or who lies in a trench waiting to be shot by some unknown enemy does not have some opportunity outside of his regular work to satisfy his instincts, he is going to deteriorate physically, mentally, and morally. This is why there is such a cry among workingmen for shorter hours. They can't stand the drudgery, the tearing down, without some building up. This is why the question of recreation, of spending the leisure time, is becoming an important one with the coming of shorter hours. If the leisure time is the building-up time, it is very important how it is spent.

Boys and girls in school are required to do much work that is not in harmony with their instincts. Such work is mere drudgery; it tears down the child physically, mentally, and morally, and if, like the workman, he is not given opportunity outside of his regular school work

to build himself up through his natural activities, he will after a while become a weakling. This is why so many of our best school men are coming to the conclusion that if the school had charge of the child all the time he would be a weakling in body, mind, and soul. The boy who does not play will not grow. You may cram into his head all the learning in the world so that he will be a walking encyclopedia, you may teach him all the morals in the universe, and still he will be an imbecile mentally and morally, if he does not play.

A survey of history will show us that those nations that have produced the greatest number of great men have been nations in which play was fostered. Greece produced more great men in the forty years during the age of Pericles than were ever produced in the same time by any nation, and Greece's educational system required every child to spend half of his time in play. The great men of England have been those who as boys took great interest in play. In America there are twice as many men from the ranks of the athletes in Who's Who as from the ranks of the Phi Beta Kappas. This is all strong argument in favor of at least making play a supplement to the regular work of the schools.

If our present educational system, which consists, for the most part, in storing in the child's head the dry facts of textbooks, is not getting the desired results, it would be well for us to investigate and see what is the matter. It might be well for us to see whether our educational ideals are not wrong. Is education the acquisition of information or is it development? Even those who believe in the old-time educational régime will agree that the end of education is the development of the child physically, mentally, and morally. They pride themselves on their opposition to the "content studies,"

but they fail to see that not only is education not the acquisition of knowledge, but that it is not acquired chiefly through a study of books. A man might know all the Greek and Latin, all the mathematics, be a walking encyclopedia, and yet be uneducated. In fact, a man's being such is almost positive proof that he is not educated, for he has spent so much time and energy in the acquisition of knowledge that he has no time to make it effective. The educated man is the efficient man, the man who has control of his physical, mental, and moral faculties, and the college graduate who, like Briggs, has his knowledge packed so tightly in his mind that he can't get at anything he wants is far from efficient. What we want in education is the man who can use all the knowledge he possesses, the man who is master of all his resources.

The school of the past made the child's school work drudgery because it confined him to the acquisition of information that he would need when he became a man. Childhood has been regarded as a useless period except as it stores up information useful to manhood. The child in school is required to solve the problems of the adult instead of the problems of childhood in which he is interested. When conditions are changing as rapidly as they are to-day, who knows but that these problems will no longer be the problems of the man when the child reaches manhood? Then these problems of the adult do not appeal to the child; he is not interested in them, and psychologists tell us that however long we are confined to tasks in which we are not interested they will not make an impression upon us. The child does not grow as a result of his school work unless he enters into it with his whole soul and is self-active in it. He is not going to be self-active in that which does not

appeal to him as satisfying a present need; hence we can do him but little good in an educational way when we confine him to the problems of adult life. We must let him study and do those things that satisfy his needs now, for by so doing we prepare him in the best possible way for the problems of adult life. We must get away from the conception of education as the acquisition of information. Information is only a by-product of education. The mind is not a cistern; it is a workshop in which things are made. It is not a storehouse; it is a factory. The best way for the mind to store up a fund of useful information is for us to make it a workshop. Information is not really acquired until the mind is aroused and becomes alert and active.

PLAY BUILDS UP

As we have said before, play develops every phase of the child's being and makes him the creature nature intended him to be. It is like the proper soil for the plant; it causes him to reach his ideal. Play causes the child to grow physically, mentally, and morally.

1. Physically. Play gives the child the proper physical basis for his life, develops his reflexes, gives physical control, and develops the bodily organs. Running, which is a part of almost all play, gives the best possible development to the heart and lungs. It sends good, rich blood to all parts of the body, builds up the torn-down tissues, and gives ability to resist disease. Play puts the child into the fresh air, and fresh air is the most perfect tonic for all the body. The way to get a good case of indigestion is to keep out of the fresh air, take no exercise, and worry over your work. The way to build up a good digestive apparatus is to go out into the fresh air, take plenty of exercise, and take your mind off your work.

Worry impairs the health more quickly than anything else we know, and the person who plays regularly in the fresh air will not worry.

Play develops and strengthens the nervous system. The American people are getting to be the most nervous people in the world. Some one has said that if this state of affairs keeps on we shall all be in the insane asylum within the next three hundred years. Americanitis is another word for nervousness and irritability. The nervousness is due to the strenuousness of our lives and the lack of recreation through play. We are tearing down all the time, and never give nature an opportunity to build up. We are not a playing people. We work too much and do not spend enough time in exercise in the fresh air. This nervousness may be charged up largely to our educational system, which confines the child to a life of drudgery in the study of things that do not interest him. Most parents and teachers seem willing to sacrifice everything if the child can be made to learn his lessons at school. They take their children away from their play, send them to school almost as soon as they can walk, and do all in their power to crush their lives out. They do not realize that there is something more important to the child's future than the acquisition of information.

Play not only develops the body, it renders it immune against disease. The person who plays in the open air will seldom be sick. Play is said to insure the greatest immunity against tuberculosis, pneumonia, grippe, and colds; it gives vitality to the body and helps it to throw off disease germs. Play gives endurance and strength to do the physical work that will be required in afteryears. So many people have not the physical strength to do their work; they tire out easily. This is not true

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