The development of the child / by Nathan Oppenheim.

  • Nathan Oppenheim
Date:
1898
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The development of the child / by Nathan Oppenheim. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    them having come from an impoverished stock have a predisposition to weakness in mind and body, still more have lived their short lives in surroundings character- ized by want or ignorance or stupidity or viciousness. Many of them bear the hall-mark of their most unfortu- nate environment. They are correspondingly ready to S fall into developmental distortions and are correspond- ingly hard to be kept within the lines of a straight growth. Far more than the ordinary child should they be watched and nurtured,—not only for their own sakes, but also for that of the community of which they form an important part. When one comes to think that in the State of New York, one out of every two hundred and fifty-one of the population is sup- ported from the public funds, the necessity immedi- ately becomes apparent of properly caring for these wards of the State, to the end of converting them from incumbrances into useful, valuable citizens. The mere fact that they have no natural guardians makes the necessity of caring for them lie all the more heavily on the community which is ultimately affected by their successful or unsuccessful development. Keeping these things in mind, one can say very little for the methods now used in this State. Although we know that children follow their enveloping influences very closely, and that therefore their daily companions are important factors in determining what they are to be, nevertheless, the system in question puts dozens of