Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-10-09
SCHOOL CHILDREN'S LUNCHES.
Bad Conduct and. Other Juvenile De-
fectS Due to. Undertaking.
+. l. Wilbur in scboo, and Home.

Miss +. l. Wilbur in School and Home.
1t has been so long the custom to look
upon the restless or bad behavior of a
large proportion of the children in schools
as natural evil that could not be pre-
vented that some of the commonplac e
means of modifying the restless and mis-
chievous tendencies of the children have
been overlooked
Many of these tendencies are the result
of physical defects. or are due to the dis
turbances of mental or physical equilib-
rum caused by too rapid growth.
But by far the greater number of cases
are due to the fact that the child is tenn
porarily or chronically suffering from
malnutrition. and the demands of its body
for more food, or proper food, cause the
nervous, muscular or mental phenomena
Of various kinds which constitute what.
from the teachers standpoint. is called
bad behavior.
DR.. Eichholz. one of the British inspect
ors now appointed to the medical board
Of the education department is quoted
in a report Of a committee on physical
deterioration in ENGLAND as saying: 7
hold a very firm opinion, which is shared
by medical men, members of educa ton
committees, managers, teachers and 9th
ers conversant with the conditions of
school children, that food is at the base
of all evils of child degeneracy-that is
to say, if we take steps to insure the
proper adequate feeding of children the
evil will rapidly cease.
Further confirmation of this view was
given the committee on physical deterio-
ration by DR.. Collie. medical inspector Of
the London school board, who, in speak
ing of feeble minded children, said:
Mental disability is not only prevent
able. but in many cases durable In a
large number of instances. after the care
full individual attention and midday din
ner Of the special schools. they are re-
turned after from sixteen to eighteen
months to the elementary schools with
a new lease of mental vigor. These children
arc functiona1ly mentally defective. Their
brains are starved and naturally fail to
react to the ordinary methods of ele-
mentary. teaching. In the absence Of
children, these special schools in London
are fulfilling a very useful function.
Many of these children are apparently
only dull and backward. but they are
really functionalIy defective. and GER
tain proportion of thu cases is the result
of semi starvation. After sixteen
or eighteen months they get fresh start
with feeding
Statistics based on observations of over
oo.00O school children have shown unnis-
takably that the best fed children or chill
dren from the weIl-to-do classes do the
best average work. This is contrary to
the old idea that poor boys were smarter
than rich men because so many great
~
the last fact is explained by the fact that
the genius of these men was such that
not even poverty could hinder their devel
opment. But 1t is also sadly true that
many distinguished men and even women
have had their health so undermined by
the hardships of their early life that they
have never fully recovered from the ef-
fects of their early privations.
1t seems well established by observa-
ton that defective nutrition lies at the
base of all forms of degeneracy." This
may occur even in the families of the
wealthy. who have an abundance Of food,
but not enough of the kinds of food
needed for proper nourishment Curl
GUS instance of this is mentioned in re-
cent magazine. A child of the wel-to-do
class became thin and emaciated because
Of malnutriton due to the persistent
use OF certain prepared food. When he
was six years old the mistake was dis
covered and the boy apparently recovered
when given a suitable diet. but in after
years he still showed deficiencies in the
control of his larger muscles. though his
higher mental faculties seemed unimpaired,
and ne had clearness OF vision, color vision
health Of the retina. acuteness of hear
ing, accuracy and rapidity of dtscrimina-
tfon.. interest in play, all Of which he
exhibited in his reading. writing. spelling,
drawing, water color painting, music and
pure mathematics. -.- f.
Experiments and observations have
shcwf that these are precisely the Pie
nomena induced in older persons 10y star
walton sor undertaking, L. e., a tendency
to great intellectual activity and tend
ency to-impuisive and violent acts. which