L. Querton.Pkactical Eugenics.149
But all law remains ineffective without a rigorous control of its
application. We can convince ourselves of this by ascertaining precisely the results
obtained in countries where education has been compulsory for some time,
but where there exists no organization charged with the systematic control
of the development of the child.
It is important to have, under direct control, the result rather than the
means. The estimation of the value of the education received can be
judged only by the proof of the development shown by the child, before,
during and after the application of an educational régime.
A law imposing compulsory education ought therefore to impose on children
who have reached the compulsory age an examination intended to determine
their development, and in consequence to lay down precisely the conditions
under which their education must be carried on..
This examination should be renewed as often as is found necessary for
the estimation of the value of these conditions, and especially at the end of
the compulsory period when the child will have attained the age at which he
ought to have acquired the minimum of education recognized as indispensable
to fit him for his social environment.
The advantage of this control should, without doubt, be extended to
children who have not yet reached the age of compulsory education.
The proofs of abnormalities and their consequences should lead to enquiry
into the causes which determine them, and the extension of the control would
not be long in being recognized as necessary to ensure the normal development
of the child before, as during, the period of compulsory education.
After being subjected to the influence of the scholastic environment, the
child passes most often to the business environment, which also presents for
him increasing dangers.
Premature choice of a trade, weighing him down, often leads to conditions
harmful to the complete achievement of the development of the child.
So all hygienists are agreed in desiring a certificate of fitness for the
admission of a child to work, and in demanding the regular inspection of
workers, especially of those who are engaged in injurious occupations.
The growth of the complexity of the physical environment is not less harmful
than the growth of the complexity of the social environment.
In towns particularly the conditions of the dwelling-place, as well as of
the school and of the workshop, are only with great difficulty brought up to
the standard requisite to the normal evolution of the child.
The urban environment becomes by its progressive extension more and
more unsuited to fulfil the conditions necessary for the complete development
of a great number of children, who can only with difficulty find in it means
of sustenance and above all the fresh air and exercise which axe indis
pensable to them.
