Page 498

GUARDING SCHOOLCHILDREN'S HEALTH
GUARDING THE SCHOOL-
CHILDREN'S HEALTH
YGIENE as a factor in modern
        education is constantly receiving
        keener attention   from   parents,
        teachers  and   medical experts.
They realize that a sound body is just as
necessary as a sound mind, and that the
best kind of education is one that provides
for a well balanced physical and mental de-
velopment. They admit, moreover, that the
environment in which our schoolchildren
receive their training has in the past left
much to be desired in the way of sanita-
tion, and effective efforts are being made
to improve the conditions in our public
schools.
  Among the interesting reports recently
published in regard to this wide-spread
movement, is an article by Dr. C. Ward
Crampton, Director Qf Physical Training
on the New York Board of Education, who
sets forth in the New York Times of No-
vember 23, 1913, some of the methods now
being tested to promote individual and gen-
eral hygiene in the public schools of this
city.
  At the outset, Dr. Crampton calls atten-
tion to the more or less-artificial conditions
under which the children of our civiliza-
tion are brought up. While this "whole-
sale segregation of the young" is necessary
to fit them for adult activities, he points out
that "normal activity is restricted. House
air is substituted for out of doors, books
for trees and running brooks, electric light
for sunlight, and school tasks for farm
chores. A natural child, with a body that
has not changed materially in 20,000 years,
finds an unnatural environment.
  "The city owes an education to the
child," continues Dr. Crampton, "but it
owes also to the public a warrant that
schooling shall not devitalize the race. The
Department of Education has given to its
sub-department of physical training the so-
lution of this problem, with the idea that
not only shall health be preserved but that
the process of learning shall result in phys-
ical and hygienic training which will make
for vigor and efficiency and not merely ab-
sence of disease."
  An example of the efforts made to culti-
vate personal cleanliness and health in the
schoolchildren may be found in the "train-
ing rules" that were given to the Io,ooo
boys who assembled in Central Park last
498
June to exhibit physical training work.
These rules prescribed such sensible observ-
ances as 9 o'clock bedtime, the opening of
windows top and bottom for the night, a 7
o'clock hour for rising, brief morning ex-
ercises, elimination of tea and coffee, smok-
ing and other harmful habits, plenty of ex-
ercise in the open air and great care as
to bodily cleanliness.
  Physical defects, says Dr. Crampton, are
noted by the physicians of the Department
of Health, but the school can aid in curing
or preventing some of them. Flat foot, for
instance, is corrected by folk dancing and
athletics. Care of the teeth is also given
special attention, and in addition to the
opening of dental clinics for schoolchildren,
pupils are given instruction by nurses of
the Board of Health in toothbrush drills
and mouth hygiene.
  The Department of Education is on the
alert to apply modern medical science for
the good of the pupils, and one of the most
important recent discoveries is that measles
and scarlet fever are probably spread by
coughing and sneezing, a fact which, when
known, suggests its own precautions.
  The disinfection of rooms is another
matter that receives attention. In order to
ascertain the best methods, correspondence
was entered into with various cities for the
purpose of ascertaining a cheap and effec-
tive plan. The tests made have resulted in
a beneficial effect on the health of the
pupils.
  The question of heating and ventilation
is also being given more thorough consid-
eration, and the department is coming to
the conclusion, says Dr. Crampton, that the
main defects in school ventilation are over-
heating and air stagnation. The tempera-
ture of the rooms has therefore been re-
duced from 68-72 to 6 -68 degrees. Ex-
periments have been undertaken, moreover,
to observe the benefit obtained by keeping
the air in constant circulation by electric
fans.
  The School Lunch Committee, now a
part of the Association for Improving the
Condition of the Poor, is one of the recent
innovations, and the receipts from  the
luncheons furnished to the schoolchildren
have covered the cost of food and Dart of
the expense of administration. Four addi-
tional central kitchens will be equipped, and
it is planned to serve seventeen schools.
  It is especially interesting to note the
effect of athletics on the mental as well as