CHAPTER XV

THE SCHOOL

In a commonwealth a man would need a healthy mind in a healthy body to be true to himself, and to every man. In an unorganized community, in which each man must needs struggle with his fellow for the right to live, and in which to be unselfish is to be weak, and to be weak is to go to the wall, a man needs a healthy mind in a healthy body in order to set up himself and those dear to him in a fortress impregnable, with ramparts against competitors, secret stores against time of siege, and insurance policies against the horrors that threaten weak women and young children whose champion has departed.

As things are now, we have then, not merely to train the boy to be a man for manhood's sake, but to fit him to fight what has been pleasantly called "the battle of life." He must be not only strong but artful, not only intelligent but cunning, not only brave but aggressive, not only fit to work but fit to bargain, not only an artist but a shopkeeper.

Knowing what we do of the hardness of the competitive system, how unfair we are to these children whom we affect to "educate." We dose them with a little book-learning and pass them on to seek employers. Nothing has been taught them by way of preparation for the real education upon which they are about to enter. They are wholly ignorant of the nature of the machine of which they are about to become an insignificant part. They plunge into the hard work which henceforth is to be their portion and little that has been taught them is of value in connexion with it. The boy is compelled to play a game for wages without knowledge of the rules. Business presents itself to him as an impenetrable mystery, the secrets of which are known but to a few. He becomes a producer of things which in some way, he knows not how, are sold and bought and come to yield him a certain or uncertain wage. He does not see, nor, if he saw, would he understand, the balance sheet which sums up the processes which yield him a part only of his production. He is not competent to measure the extent of the injustice which he suffers. It is a game played between a few who know and many who do not know.

From the beginning of the child's life, the Error of Distribution plays its part. The opportunity offered the child varies directly with the income of its parent. The frontispiece of this volume measures not income alone; it measures also the degree of opportunity which is offered to the children respectively of the rich, the comfortable and the poor. Since the bulk of the people are poor, the greater number of the nation's children are handicapped at the start. Individually they are deprived of their birthright. Collectively the community is deprived of the proper value of their strength, their intelligence, their genius.

The last point is rarely discussed. Intellect and genius are the possessions of no single class. Year by year we kill off units of our population who might live to work good for their kind. Year by year we brutalize men who, given opportunity, might enrich our literature or ennoble our art. Year by year we waste the greater part of the gifts of our people. Here and there some rare combination of muscle and brain rises superior to circumstance and lives to command the class which would have repressed him. These exceptional cases serve to remind us of the ability which is lost. We know only of the soldiers who live to be commanders. Probably greater generals than Napoleon have perished as privates in their first battle. That is unavoidable, for in battle some must die. But in the arts of peace the sacrifice of potential commanders need not go on. Given equality of opportunity, the marshal's baton in each private's knapsack, and the nation need not waste one of its great men.

If we are in earnest in this matter of the problem of poverty, we must hasten to equalize opportunity, and having begun with the unborn child, continue our work in the school. We must seek to make the school a preparation for life and endeavour to build up, out of the new generation, citizens who understand, and who, understanding, will see to it that they remain not poor.

In the first place, we have to attend to the child's body. Through the school we can see that the child is properly clothed and properly fed. Through the school we can teach the child to understand its physical nature and to respect it. In a certain class of trumpery novel, the "tubbing" Englishman is distinguished from the unclean foreigner. The simple fact is that the Englishmen who "tub" are quite exceptional specimens of their kind. Few of the 9,000,000 houses of the United Kingdom are provided with tubbing apparatus, and even the London County Council has lately built "model" cottages which contain no bath. We must change all that. The Germans are setting us the example of introducing shower baths into their public elementary schools, and all the children are bathed once a week. They soon get to enjoy it, and it is rarely that a child objects. Mr George Andrew, in his valuable report to the Scottish Education Department on the schools of Berlin and Charlottenburg,[44] says that in the poorer localities this weekly bath system is found to have an educational effect upon the parents. The mothers, influenced by the knowledge that their children's underclothing will be scrutinized, supply them with clean things. Thus even that least amenable of subjects, the parent, may be reached through the child.

In "Riches and Poverty" edition 1905, I wrote:—

"In the matter of school hygiene and the physical training of children, the introduction of the medico into the school is all-important. At present, proper hygienic inspection of our schools does not exist. Medical officers should be appointed both to see that school buildings are absolutely healthy and to care for the personal health of the pupils. Upon entering the school, the child should undergo a preliminary examination and from thence onward remain under the care of the school doctor. The preliminary examination would decide the question of fitness for normal instruction; defective children would be drafted into special classes."

In 1907 the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act made it the "duty" of local education authorities "to provide for the medical inspection of children immediately before, or at the time of, or as soon as possible after, their admission to a public elementary school" and the "power" of such authorities to make arrangements "for attending to the health and physical condition of the children." It is earnestly to be hoped that this "power" will be exercised; at present many authorities are blind to it. The reader may judge from a single example the importance of using the schools as a means of physical control and training. Dr Ralph H. Crowley, the Medical Superintendent of the Bradford Education Authority, conducted an inquiry into the physical condition of the school children of Bradford in 1907. The results make painful reading.

Let us begin with the "general condition" of the Bradford children. The examination as to cleanliness was made by observations of the head, ears, and neck, and by rolling up the sleeves of the children. The following approximate figures were arrived at:

CONDITION AS TO CLEANLINESS

Number. Per Cent.

Clean 10,000 22.2 Somewhat dirty 22,000 49.0 Dirty 11,500 25.5 Very dirty 1,500 3.3

I think we must agree with Dr Crowley that these figures "show a deplorable state of things." What is to be said of "home life" and "education," which between them fail to teach a child to be clean?

Here are some saddening details as to the condition of the heads of girls:

CONDITION OF GIRLS' HEADS

No. of Girls. Per Cent.

Clean 7,000 30 Nits present 8,500 35 Lice present 8,500 35

And these figures, we are told, exclude many children sent home because their heads had "broken out" through the presence of lice.

As to clothing, here are the figures:

CONDITION OF CLOTHING

No. of Children. Per Cent.

Good 10,000 22 Average 19,000 42 Bad or very bad 16,000 36

As for boots, the results are worth the consideration of British bootmakers. As many as 6,500 children had foot-gear so bad that in many cases "it was difficult to see how what were meant for boots managed to keep on the feet."

Condition as to nutrition was judged broadly, irrespective of cause. Dr Crowley divided the schools into three classes—better class schools, poor schools, poorest. I take the case of the poorest schools:

C. SCHOOLS—POOREST

Nutrition. Infants. Upper School. No. Per Cent. No. Per Cent.

Good or sufficiently good 51 30.7 105 24.4 Below normal 58 34.9 183 42.6 Poor or very poor 57 34.4 142 33.0

Taking the three groups of schools together, we find that 1,019 children out of nearly 2,000 were "below normal" in point of nutrition. More than one-half, that is, were suffering from chronic semi-starvation. Of the 1,019, as many as 344 were described as "poor or very poor."

Very instructively Dr Crowley measured nutrition against mental capacity, and showed clearly how often unhealthy minds are the product of unhealthy bodies. Of children of exceptional intelligence, 62.7 per cent. were of good nutrition. Of dull children only 24.9 per cent. were of good nutrition.

Dr Crowley concluded his significant report with these words:

"No increased facilities for higher education or technical instruction can in any way take the place of attention to the physical side of our children. The future of our nation will depend, not on the ability of the few, but on the fitness of the many, and this fitness must be secured at all cost. It is for us as a nation a matter of life and death."

To proceed, anthropometric statistics should be carefully compiled, and a sickness register kept, so that the nation may judge of the progress made in restoring its stature. The teeth would have special attention and the school dentist would work hand in hand with the school doctor. Children need few dosings, but in special cases cod liver oil or a suitable tonic could be administered, as is done in Belgium.

In cases of defective nourishment the child must be fed, whatever the character of the parent. No fears as to the loosening of parental responsibility need stand in the way in this essential matter, for drastic punishment of neglectful parents should go hand in hand with our care of the child. Nothing, in my opinion, is so likely to encourage the feeling of parental responsibility, and to shame careless mothers, as the knowledge that at the school the child is regarded as a valuable commodity. In this connexion it would be well for the Board of Education to insist upon periodical reports, not less frequently than every three months, to parents upon their children. A carefully written report upon the progress of the scholar in all departments would be calculated to stimulate the better feelings of the parent.

The greatest timidity was shown by the Physical Deterioration Committee in dealing with the important subject of underfed children. The report runs:

"By a differentiation of function on these terms—the School Authority to supply and organize the machinery, the benevolent to furnish the material—a working adjustment between the privileges of charity and the obligations of the community might be reached. In some districts it still may be the case that such an arrangement would prove inadequate, the extent or the concentration of poverty might be too great for the resources of local charity, and in these, subject to the consent of the Board of Education, it might be expedient to permit the application of municipal aid on a larger scale."

It is the State that must furnish the "material," not as a matter of charity, but from motives of the purest common sense. The timidity of the Committee is the more remarkable when the evidence presented to them is examined. Dr Eichholz made a special investigation into the conditions of the Johanna Street Board School, Lambeth, as a type of school in a very bad district, and he considers that 90 per cent. of the children are unable, by reason of their physical condition, to attend to their lessons in a proper way. His estimate of the underfed children in the elementary schools of London is 122,000, or 16 per cent. of the whole.[45]

Those alone who have had to do with voluntary free breakfast schemes can have any idea of the terrible hunger of the children who attend them. The hugging of the mug of cocoa, the ravenous swallowing—it cannot be called eating—of the slices of bread, make one shudder to think that, but for such isolated voluntary effort, the poor children would in an hour or so be entering a school at which their attendance is compulsory to—study! And for one helped by voluntary effort how many go hungry to their tasks, utterly unable, through physical weakness, to do their work!

Those who have grasped the importance of the utterance of Dr D. J. Cunningham, quoted in the last chapter, will heartily agree with Sir Shirley Murphy, L.C.C. Medical Officer of Health, that "the child has got to be fed." The chief deterrent to many is fear that parents will be demoralized by free meals at the schools. It must be realized by those who entertain this fear that the parents are often already thoroughly demoralized, and that their demoralization in the great majority of cases has resulted from the conditions imposed upon them from their birth by our social system. They are what they are because of circumstances over which their control was nominal. _The reader, or myself, if transplanted to Lambeth at a few months old, and nurtured as they were nurtured, would at this moment be what they are._ "There, but for the Grace of God, goes myself," is the reflection which every man should make when he contemplates the waste products of the civilization of which he himself is a favoured part. That truth realized by any man, it is never again possible for him, if he has more than the average share of the nation's income, to grudge a part of the amount by which his income exceeds the average to raise to a higher level the children of those whose lives have been a crying injustice from their cradles—of those who have, with all their faults, done more than their share of the hard labour of the world.

In 1906 the Education (Provision of Meals) Act enacted that a local education authority "may take such steps as they think fit for the provision of meals for children in attendance at any public elementary school in their area" to the extent of a halfpenny rate and no more. So, with extreme timidity, the legislative machine advances.

Games, physical drill, gardening and swimming, should be taught to every child, under proper medical control. I assume the existence of playgrounds in some ample shape—each school having its indoor and outdoor places of recreation and its school garden. A great object is to keep the child from the street. For the same reason, the school grounds should be open on summer evenings and during all vacations. It is a simple matter to make the vacations a time of real holiday for every child—filled with lively interest and healthful sport. With the physical exercises and teaching of games and, indeed, with all other departments of school life should be associated what Rousseau considered to be the chief moral principle that a child should learn—to do harm to no one. That carries with it the teaching of "manners" in their best sense. Nor should graces of person be neglected. The boy should not be allowed to slouch about with his hands in his pockets. If he does, he is only too likely to slouch into casual labour hereafter.

Clean, neatly clad, healthy, well-nourished, upright, self-respecting and therefore respectful of others, feeling its strength in every limb, well-mannered, capable of lucid expression—is it beyond our powers to make the average child all this? Not if these things are as well worth consideration as the resistance of an armour-plate, the trajectory of a rifle-bullet, or the virtues of a smokeless powder. Not if the proper study of mankind is man.

Having made provision for the body, we may now turn to the mind. I have referred to the child's power of expression, and I think that the average elementary scholar's incapacity to think clearly or to express its ideas with lucidity show how much we have missed the way in our educational methods. We have forgotten that to "educate" is literally to "lead out." The two guiding principles or characteristics of the German school curriculum as described by Mr George Andrew are: (1) The principle of "_Anschauung_" (observation, intuition, concrete), and (2) The development of oral expression.

"Anschauung" literally means "looking at" and as an educational principle it means observation of the concrete as paving the way to the abstract. The child begins school with the supply of words and conceptions which it has gained from infancy in its own house. These have to be corrected and completed; the child's concepts are enriched by fresh observations and by gradual steps it is advanced from the familiar to the strange, from the known to the unknown. In the youngest classes the instruction in reading, writing, arithmetic, drawing, nature study, is all in varying degrees based on "Anschauung," and later the same principle of observation is to be traced in the teaching of such subjects as geometry, geography, and history, where models, pictures, maps, and plans are continually resorted to in order to deepen and vivify the ideas gained from the printed page. Mr Andrew thus contrasts infant teaching in Scotland with that in Berlin:

"In Scotland, infant classes generally begin with the alphabet and the elementary reading-book, the object-lesson being something of an "extra," in which much useful and stodgy information is often imparted to the youthful mind—not always on subjects within its range of actual experience—and then retracted under an incessant fire of jerky interrogatories.

"The Berlin child begins in a different way. With him the "observation lesson" is the starting-point. It is maintained that the child in his natural intercourse at home with his parents, brothers and sisters, and playmates, has equipped himself with a certain rudimentary supply of words and ideas, which concern themselves mainly with objects that have fallen within his own range of vision. He has learned to speak in a language, the purity or corruptness of which will largely depend on his environment. It is on these two lines, his rudimentary knowledge of simple objects and his power of simple speech, that his first school instruction proceeds, individual words and their constituent _sounds_ with (the corresponding letter names) being reached by a gradual analytical process. In the "observation lesson" such objects as are in the schoolroom, or again, the child's body and limbs, his food, his clothes, his home, his street, etc., anything, in fact, which he can see, or has seen, are made use of. But even in this early "observation lesson" one cannot fail to note how the foundations are laid for developing oral expression—for teaching the child _Sprachfertigkeit_. Just as the child comes to school with his rudimentary ideas, and has these gradually corrected and extended by "observation," so also in this lesson the power of speech he brings with him is taken up and developed from the beginning. He is asked to describe what is placed before his eyes; he is made—and this is naturally the first difficulty—to speak in a distinctly loud tone of voice; and he is made to answer in a sentence or sentences. For example, the teacher's watch was taken as the subject of an "observation lesson" in a class of pupils newly come to school. One heard such little sentences as "This is a watch"; "from the watch hangs a chain"; "on the face of the watch are figures," etc. Every now and then some child is made to recapitulate the whole account, e.g. to repeat the above three sentences—a process to which great importance is attached."

Thus from the beginning the child is taught to observe and to express lucidly what it has observed, and this excellent principle—this real "education"—is followed throughout its school life. As a result the children become self-reliant in utterance, able to think clearly and to express their ideas orally or in writing in logical order and appropriate language. Thus, whatever the influence of the home the child gains a proper use of its mother-tongue. In our own country the vocabulary of the home remains the vocabulary of the child, and I know of nothing more painful than to listen to the talk of our "educated" elementary school children in poor neighbourhoods.

There is no subject in the curriculum to which the principles of observation and development of expression are not applied with success. Thus, arithmetic is not taught by rule-of-thumb, as is too often the case in our schools, but from the beginning the child is led to "count with understanding." The child does not merely learn a series of mechanical rules. He understands the process he employs and can give a lucid account of his knowledge. It is perhaps hardly necessary to add that he studies the metric system, and becomes familiar with the arithmetic of business operations.

Our elementary school curriculum must be made to include the study of the sciences as a matter of course and not as special subjects. Unfortunately, public opinion is still lamentably absent on this point. An ex-Prime Minister is not ashamed to state publicly that he is ignorant of science, and the majority of those who have received what is known as a "liberal" education could not intelligently explain the ringing of an electric bell or the action of their own hearts. This deplorable neglect of science is sadly handicapping us as a nation in every department, and it is a notable fact that the majority of recent scientific discoveries have been made in other lands. In "Riches and Poverty," 1905, I mentioned the following as especially notable: X-Rays, Germany; Radium, France; Synthetic indigo, Germany; Artificial Silk, France and Germany; Incandescent gas light, Germany; Wireless telegraphy, Italy. Since then the English Channel has been crossed by a flying machine—from the French side. I notice that Mr Andrew, in the report already referred to, while acknowledging that science was generally treated excellently in the German schools, obtained a "vague impression that rather much was attempted." Is that vague impression to be wondered at, in view of the pitiable condition of science teaching in the United Kingdom?

As a matter of fact, nothing is more fascinating to the average child than the science-lesson. The child is instinctively a scientist; its mind is ever searching for the reason of things, and the average British parent is every day through his ignorance of science compelled to evade the simple but very reasonable inquiries of his offspring. It should be our object at the school to encourage the child's wonderings, and to do what we can to cherish the wise habit of wondering. The savage at least wonders when he sees a locomotive. The average "educated" citizen has long ceased to wonder either about the science that moves his train or the science that lights his house.

It is easy to understand how well the two guiding principles of German teaching fit the study of science, or of nature-knowledge, to use the terminology of the Charlottenburg curriculum. The material aim of the course is to give the pupil knowledge of nature in a form suited to his grasp, including, be it observed, the laws of health. Then there is the formal aim—to train the pupil's powers of observation, and to develop his powers of thinking, and to awaken his sympathy with plant and animal life and admiration for the beauty of Nature. At Charlottenburg Natural History is taught under the three sub-divisions A. Botany, B. Zoology, and C. Anthropology. Under the third is taught animal physiology, the laws of health, and first aid in cases of accident. In connexion with Botany, school excursions for the study of plant life are organized. I can imagine no more useful discipline for a town dweller. In the domain of physical science, the pupils are led on to the knowledge of Nature's laws and to the causes of common things. Particular attention is paid, Mr Andrew tells us, to such phenomena or principles as are of importance in domestic, industrial and commercial life—those of domestic life applying to the girls, the latter two to the boys. Light, heat, magnetism, electricity, mechanics, sound, chemistry and mineralogy are taken. Experiment is largely employed, and the apparatus used is adequate and admirable, in this respect being a striking contrast to the mean outfit which is usually considered good enough in the United Kingdom. The reflection is forced upon one that, in the region of foreign competition, with which this work is not concerned, they will be formidable antagonists, these scientific German children, in the time to come.

In connexion with the teaching of hygiene in schools we can do much to encourage abstinence from intoxicating liquors. If in the study of physiology the harmful effects of alcohol upon the kidneys and other organs is made clear to the children, a very wholesome fear of "drink" will be bred in them.

The little we are doing in the way of teaching domestic economy and cooking to girls needs much strengthening. These subjects should be compulsory in the highest classes of all girls' schools. There is perhaps no other country in which poor women are so ignorant of cooking as in the United Kingdom. There is no simple national dish which every one knows how to make, and it is rarely that poor Englishwomen can make a decent soup or have any idea of the proper cooking of vegetables.

As a preliminary to the abolition of child labour under the age of 16, the introduction of the principle of compulsion in connexion with continuation classes is badly needed. The children are now set free at the most dangerous period of their lives, and nothing but good could arise from compelling their attendance at classes which, in the case of girls, should deal with infant and domestic hygiene, cookery, and dressmaking, and in the case of boys with science, technics and languages.

In 1908 I introduced into the House of Commons a measure to establish compulsory day continuation schools in England and Wales. The Bill was prefaced with a memorandum which pointed out:

"According to the census of 1901 there were in England and Wales about 4,600,000 persons of both sexes between the ages of 14 and 21 years. According to the reports of the Board of Education the number of pupils aged 15 to 21 years attending day and evening continuation schools of all sorts is only about 387,000."

The Bill itself was as follows:

1. This Act may be cited as the Continuation Schools Act, 1909.

2. The earliest age at which a child shall be entitled to any exemption from obligatory school attendance shall be fourteen years, and the Education Acts, 1870 to 1902, are hereby repealed in so far as they permit the partial or total exemption from school attendance of children under fourteen years of age.

3. Every child whose age exceeds fourteen but does not exceed seventeen years shall be deemed to be a continuation scholar, and is hereinafter so termed in this Act.

4. Every education authority shall establish classes (hereinafter termed a continuation school) for the continued education and technical training, without fees, of all continuation scholars in its district who do not attend approved day secondary or day technical schools.

5. The continuation school shall be carried on at hours which do not terminate later than six o'clock p.m., and every continuation scholar shall attend the continuation school for a period of not less than six hours per week.

6. Sufficient school places, and sufficient teachers, scientific and technical apparatus, material, tools, or plant, et cetera, shall be provided to enable every continuation scholar controlled by the education authority to be instructed in industry or agriculture, or in domestic economy, in the English language and literature, in the principles of hygiene, and in the duties and obligations of citizenship, and the scheme and curriculum of each continuation school shall be subject to the approval of the Board of Education.

7. For the purposes of the administration of this Act, the education authority may co-opt any number of local employers not exceeding six.

8. Every employer shall permit every continuation scholar in his employ time in which to attend the continuation school, and, failing to permit such attendance, shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding _two pounds_ for every day upon which his employee therefore fails to make his due attendance at the continuation school.

9. Every parent or responsible guardian of a continuation scholar who fails to attend a continuation school shall be liable on summary conviction to a penalty not exceeding _ten shillings_ for every day upon which the continuation scholar fails to attend the continuation school, unless the non-attendance is due to the fault of the scholar's employer, or to illness, accident, or other unavoidable cause.

10. It shall be the duty of the education authority to prosecute the parent or responsible guardian or the employer of any continuation scholar who is absent from the continuation or other approved school save through illness, accident, or other unavoidable cause:

Provided that no continuation scholar shall be required to attend a continuation school held beyond two miles, measured along the nearest road, from the residence of the continuation scholar.

11. _The cost of carrying out the provisions of this Act shall be paid out of moneys provided by Parliament._

So much is said about the example of Germany that it may serve as a stimulus to those who think the above provisions too drastic to observe that my Bill was based upon the scheme which is in actual operation at Munich and which may soon be in operation for all German children.

It is by the adoption of such rational methods in our schools that we may give opportunity to the new generation. If they exhibit ability they can advance to, and benefit by, a secondary education which shall fit them to perform the highest service for the State. If their abilities are of a meaner order, we shall at least send them out into the world well-equipped mentally and physically for their life's work and keep a guiding hand upon them after their school days are ended.

With such an education the individual unit of industry would have strength and understanding to contend for a better wage and be fitted to do better work. He would also take thought as to the constitution of the society of which he forms a part, and employ intelligently the franchise which in the past he has so frequently used to his own undoing. In an individualistic society such a unit would be better fitted to hold his own. In the wise collectivism towards which we are steering, he would be fitted to do his whole duty to his fellows and himself.

The relevance of education to the main theme of this book demands little comment. It is obvious that, if we are to provide a proper physical and mental training for our people we must spend more money. Better schools, better playgrounds, better apparatus, more and better trained teachers, classes not exceeding 30 pupils per class, the introduction of the school doctor and school dentist, the provision of meals, the compulsory continuation schools—all these things are needed and all these things are costly. It is only want of reflection upon the enormous resources at the disposal of the State which makes so many people timid in educational reform. Take the matter of school doctors, for instance. On page 64 of the Report of the Physical Deterioration Committee will be found:

"Dr Eichholz thought it (the medical inspection of school children) was the greatest need in school organization."

Therefore, you would say, Dr Eichholz and the Committee would urge that the "greatest need" be properly supplied. Alas! the report goes on:

"On the ground of expense he would confine a general examination to the poorest schools, and considered that in London the work could be done by ten young men at £250 each."

The Committee, speaking for themselves, say:

"The Committee believe that, with teachers properly trained in the various branches of hygiene, the system could be so far based on their observation and record, that no large and expensive medical staff would be necessary...."

Always the idea appears to be uppermost that this is a poor, a very poor, country, which cannot afford to do the things which it would wish to do. That teachers "properly trained in the various branches of hygiene," which certainly do not cover the diagnosis of disease, should be considered competent to decide which children should or should not undergo medical examination amounts to an expression of opinion that we cannot afford to provide the schools with their "greatest need."

I refer the timid to the fact that the gross assessments to Income Tax in 1908-9 were over £1,000,000,000. The practical point is this. Of the £1,000,000,000, can we spare a few millions for the purposes mentioned in this chapter?

[Footnote 44: Cd. 2120.]

[Footnote 45: It is of interest to observe that Mr Robert Hunter estimates that 70,000 of the school children of New York arrive at school either breakfastless or underfed. This estimate accounts for 13 per cent. of the school children of the city.]