ile in the country schools overwork is
rare, in those of the cities it is more common, and that the system of
pushing,--of competitive examinations,--of ranking, etc., is in a
measure responsible for that worry which adds a dangerous element to
work.

The following remarks as to the influence of home life in Massachusetts
are not out of place here, and will be reinforced by what is to be said
farther on by a competent authority as to Philadelphia:

"The danger of overwork, I believe, exists mainly, if not wholly, in
graded schools, where large numbers are taught together, where there is
greater competition than in ungraded schools, and where the work of each
pupil cannot be so easily adjusted to his capacity and needs. And what
are the facts in these schools? I am prepared to agree with a recent
London School Board Report so far as to say that in some of our graded
schools there are pupils who are overworked. The number in any school
is, I believe, small who are stimulated beyond their strength, and the
schools are few in which such extreme stimulation is encouraged. When,
with a large class of children whose minds are naturally quick and
active, the teacher resorts to the daily marking of recitations, to the
giving of extra credits for extra work done, to ranking, and to holding
up the danger of non-promotion before the pupils; and when, added to
those extra inducements to work, there are given by committees and
superintendents examinations for promotion at regular intervals, it
would be very strange if there were not some pupils so weak and so
susceptible as to be encouraged to work beyond their strength. There is
another occasion of overwork which I have found in a few schools, and
that is the spending of nearly all of the school time in recitation and
putting off study to extra time at home. When, in a school of forty or
more, pupils belong to the same class, and are not separated into
divisions for recitation and study, there is a temptation to spend the
greater part of the time in recitation which few teachers can resist;
and if tasks are given, they have to be learned out of school or not at
all. Pupils of grammar schools are known to feel obliged to study two or
three hours daily from this cause at a time when they should be
sleeping, or exercising in the open air. Frequently, however, it is not
so much overwork as overworry that most affects the health of the
child,--that worry which may not always be traced t