The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-01-14

Interest in the care of the health of
public school children is growing
factor among the varied activities
which have for their purpose the con-
servation Of the public health in gem
eral. A generation ago those concern
ed with the problems of public educa-
ton considered any question of child
health other than the more obvious
rules OF hygiene as outside their range
of responsibilities. Today the health
of school children i'm mass and as in
dividuals. is the subject of paramount
consideration by educational authori-
ties. This change i'm attitude Is the
direct outgrowth of the scientific study
of child development in relation to ed
ucational methods which has been ac-
lively i'm progress for many years and
which has engaged the attention of
the most able thinkers the world over.
The major result thus far attained has
been to enforce upon public attention the
fundamental fact that. broadly speak
ing. a sound mind can only be devel-
oped i'm a sound body and its corol-
larry that normal progress i'm educa-
ton can only take place in a healthy
organism. The care of the health of
school children, who are the wards of
the state from an educational stand
point. is not merely nor mainly n hu-
manitarian question, much less is 1t
question of public charity. 1t is an
economic question of the first magni-
tude. 1t has been well said by a writer
on the care of the teeth of public school
children I'm England that "rhe child's
health, mental and physical. is n ma
tional asset. which it is the duty of the
state to preserve and foster" 1t is
the recognition of this fact which
should operate most efficiently i'm Sc
curing the adoption of salutary means
for improving the physical condition
of those of the rising generation upon
whom the duties of citizenship must
subsequently fall.
In the earlier phases of the move
ment now general toward improving
the physical condition of school chill
dren, the appeal for legislative assist
been made upon humanitarian and
charitable grounds. The plea as made
from this standpoint has been only
lpartially successful state legislatures
are heavily taxed i'm supporting public
charities dealing with the care of the
obviously dependent: the drain upon
public resources for Institutions of a
OF IL, Il.
one, and as a consequence legislative
bodies are, i'm most instances. compell-
ed to limit their benefactions to insti-
tutions and charities dealing with the
manifestly dependent classes. Hence
from the charitable standpoint the di-
rect Intervention of the state i'm the
matter of the care of the physical ills
of public school children is more diff
cult to secure than 1t is i'm the case OF
the absolutely dependent and in many
respects relatively less important class
of its citizens
Public opinion u.s. however. undergo
ing a rapid change of attitude with re-
spect To the Importance of this depart
ment of educational work. The neces-
: sty for state and municipal aid in
securing better health conditions
} among public school children is being
more sympathetically recognized by
the public at large than heretofore.
There is less show of resentment upon
! the part of intelligent citizens than
; formerly at what was once regarded
as an unwarranted extension of pater-
; nalism upon the part of state and mu-
. nicipal authorities when efforts having
for their object the physical improve
ment of school children were put into
practical operation. All of this result
is the natural outcome of the general
} campaign of education leading to bet
J ter health conditions which in it's va
rious expressions has occupied so
much of public attention for the past
decade. But the dental aspect of the
: subject has only recently begun to
command serious attention, i'm America
at least, and much yet remains to be
done before public school children in
America can be efficiently protected
from the disabilities directly caused by
: preventable oral and dental LESSONS
! from which a large percentage of them
! suffer. Other nations are ahead of us
in this important department of public