A MEDICAL OPINION.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2745, 25 February 1910, Page 3

A MEDICAL OPINION.

START SCHOOLING AT SEVEN. There is one -•oini: on which most medical men agree, said Dr. James Purdy, at the annual meeting of the British Medical Association in Wellington. on Monday. lie added: —And that: is that the education or a child should not Ik: forced. In this connection it might he advisable to raise the a.go 'for commencing school life to seven years.. I commend this to the notice of the Education Department ns a moans . :) f saving tiie cost of accommodation for infants, and thus having funds to provide for open air or simple kindergartens, especially in the larger centres. J.t is a physiological fact that 90 to 97 per cent, of the total weight of the brain is gained by the age of seven. Before that age growth is its chief duty, function afterwards. It is a matter of everyday observation that children who commence school life later than the average, other things being equal, speedily catch up with the others. Certainly the money saved by the abolition of infant or nursery classes might be put to more profitable outlay by utilising kindergartens' and open-air playgrounds for children. I think there Is a great future, for the kindergarten, both free and otherwise. I quite realise the relief it must bo to many mothers of large families to send each child off to a kindergarten at the earliest possible age. As seven should be the age. for commencing work calling upon the higher functions of the brain, T. am of opinion that the kindergarten system should be encouraged in every way possible by the State, as laving the best foundation both montally and physically for later life. There is a further function for the school doctor besides the strictly medical part of his work. He should supervise, or at least advise, as to the school curriculum and general methods, more especially in the. junior classes.