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later, of its life, the child is not, in the opinion of those best
qualified to judge, capable of assimilating knowledge other than
that which is not likely to overtax its mental capacity, such for
example, as the kindergarten system provides. It is admitted by
many educational experts that children who begin to attend school
at a later age than five years can reach a higher standard of
attainment in a much shorter period than those who had been
at school at ages from 3 to 5 years. The deleterious effect on
the health and development of children at the early ages at which
they now attend infant schools, owing to the discipline and restraint
to which they are subjected, is considerable. To anyone conversant
with child nature this is not surprising, as it is unnatural
to subject a child of tender years to the enforced discipline and
constrained postures to which it has to submit in school life,
more especially when the overcrowded condition of the classrooms
which notoriously prevails in London and other large towns
is remembered. The additional danger to the children's health from
the insanitary conditions consequent upon this overcrowding, and
which must necessarily under such circumstances prevail, is
greatly increased.
I am, of course, aware that the Education Acts have reference
only to children of 5 years and upwards. Even in this
respect England is behind most other countries, where the age at
which school attendance commences is the sixth year. The method,
however, of giving grants for the attendance of children between
3 and 5 years—a method adopted by the Education Department
to encourage attendance at school of children at that age period
—has resulted during the past 20 years in a very large number
of children between 3 and 5 years of age having passed through
the infants' department of the public elementary schools. It is
estimated that about 40,000 children under 5 years of age are at
present in attendance in public elementary schools throughout
the Administrative County of London. In 1905, an attempt was
made to close the infant schools as the outcome of the reports
of the women inspectors of the Board of Education and the
recommendation of the Committee on Physical Deterioration. It
is regrettable that owing to the extreme opposition raised by