Backward Children in the Making
- Author:
Charles S.
^vgcu. rreaK. Muner. /s. bd.
j fading Mr. Segal’s book for the first time, n^Ued to mind these words of Professor Oliver: A 0 research is to ask a question and to try to find ^answer based on evidence.”
Segal’s book is an answer to the question, Why_ are children backward?” An answer exh *-S based on evidence collected during an of fHstive enquiry into the lives and environment tu schoolchildren from the pre-natal stage to Present day.
eacher research is always valuable because it is chii^Work Persons in close daily contact with tru n” The author’s ability to form a friendly evid re*ationship with the boys in his class is most Qent from his writing, and his statistics are the v re valuable for the relationship they bear to the y human stories he tells of the children.
But the child as he knows him in school is not Mr. Segal’s chief concern. A glance at the chapter headings will show how deeply rooted is the problem of backwardness in the life of the community? ” The District ” School ” Family Size ” Children’s Food ” Health ” Leisure ” War ” Delinquency ” Parents and Teachers “?all point to Mr. Segal’s mass assault on what he recognizes as a major social problem as well as a problem of teaching. As one would expect from so practical a person, Mr. Segal is not content simply to state the reasons for backwardness, but concludes with recommendations which all teachers might read with impunity.
” To teach is not enough “, he says. ” What we need is Peace, standard incomes, good housing, adequate food, equal educational opportunity, children’s clubs, parent-teacher associations and finally joint study groups for teachers, medical officers, psychologists, school nurses and welfare workers.”
This careful book, with its painstaking detail, statistics and human approach, is a book for all to read who are interested in the problem of scholastic backwardness in schoolchildren, and if the book convinces some of us that the real problem lies in the social backwardness of our generation, Mr. Segal’s hopes of writing a future book on ” Happy Children in the Making ” may well be realized. D.M.T.
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