Open-Air Schools II
THE Burnside Special School, Glasgow, accommodates 600 delicate children. At the end of last year 120 were passed out as physically fit for the ordinary schools. The school is an open-air school, and in it, as in other similar schools throughout the country, children are being restored to health by the simple remedies of fresh air, sunlight, good food, exercise, and rest. The school may be taken as a typical example of a remedial open-air school.
But the action of fresh air, sunlight, good food, exercise, and rest on the human body is not only remedial ; it is preventive as well. These things make the weak strong and the 'strong stronger. Obviously, therefore, they are required by the whole school population, and the school of the future will be the open-air school, where the essentials of health will receive at least as much attention as is at present devoted to the three R's.
It is important to state • clearly certain differences' between the remedial and the preventiVe open-air school, because the unthinking have said that it is impossible to provide open-air schools for ordinary school children on account of their excessive cost. True, the annual cost of the remedial open-air school is in excess-of the ordinary elementary school, but this is because it is half -school and half hospital, and the extra expenditure is on account of the hospital half. Further, in the remedial schools meals are provided, and this, again, enhances their cost. Elimi- nate the hospital element and the meals, and the Cost of operating an open-air school and a closed school is the same.
Having cleared from our path the bogey of extra expenditure, let us consider the possibility of the imme- diate adoption of • preventive open-air schools. To re- build all the schools in the country on open-air lines is hardly within the range of practical politics, but it is quite possible to build all new schools at open-air ANL?. Indeed, in some places this is already being done. The Burnside school, mentioned above, was opened in 1914, and the experience with this and subsequent schools of a similar type has led the Glasgow Education Authority, to look very favourably upon the open-air school." When.. we find," writes the Director of Education for Glasgow, "better school attendance, better attendance otteachers„ and I should almost be inclined to say.. considerably.; better, quality of work, I would recommend,, even_ for Gla,sgow, the erection of no school that was not, of ti* open4tir or ,of the quasi-open-air type.; indeed, all plans; which are under review for new schools are _ on this principle." . _ The day of the true, open-air schoolS has, however, yet; to dawn. _Not yet is the fnll_development of the child in. body, as well as mind and spirit, the ideal of educationists. Nevertheless, the present time is one of inquiry and,. experiment in educational methods, and it is of the first importance, that new _school buildings shall help and not' hinder the development of school work on more natural and intelligent lines. The open-air school is most helpful in this direction, and at the same time it automatically makes available the two first of our requisites for perfect health, namely, fresh air. and sunlight..
We have shown how, in Glasgow, the success of remedial' open-air schools has led to the modification of the ordinary school buildings. What are the views of others who have had experience of open-air schools? What, for instance, is the opinion of parents whose children are attending these schools?' What do the teachers think Of • them?' And what of the children themselves?
"The school is a blessing to the neighbourhood," said a chance-met Deptford mother, referring to the Rachel McMillan Open-Air Nursery School ; and that she is not alone in her opinion is borne out by the fact that there is b. long waiting-list of children for this, the first of the open-air nursery schools. ' - A teacher in a remedial open-air School says: " The open-air school is a godsend to these delicate children, and their health improves greatly under the genial influence of the fresh 'air. It would be a blessing if all schools Could be Conducted on orien-air In the latest type of Elementary School in Leeds, all the class-rooms have large French windows facing the south, and on the opposite walls are vent windows opening also into the open air. The appreciative com- ment of a teacher in one of these new schools is as follows : "Last winter was the first winter since I was a tiny child that I have not had time off with bronchitis, and I can find no other ieason for this than the fresh air and ideal conditions in the new school."
And what of the children ? One has only to go to an open-air school and see for oneself the bright, happy, alert faces to realize how much they appreciate their healthful surroundings.
Administrators, as well as parents and teachers, who have had experience of open-air schools, are unanimously in their favour. They have stood a test of twenty years of ,practical experience, and there is certainly enough evidence to warrant that all schools in the future should be built to secure the birthrights of every human being --- sun and air.
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