Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1912-09-23
HYGIENE AND SANITATION.
K-SCHOOL HEALTH ACTIVITIES.
By Frederic ]. Haskin.

The work that has been done in the
rast has demonstrated that the rallyins
ground for the cause of pubic heaith Is
in the schools. Among the masses of the
people II has been difficult to induce the
fathers and mothers to accept the teach
ings of modern sanitation. Always skep-
teal about ''newfangIed notions, they
refuse To believe in germs with the emu
drcn IL has been found different. While
in measure influenced by the mentai
attitude of their homes, their minds are
still open, and where hygiene has been
taught properly and persistently there
lave been marked results.
There are more than seventeen million
pupils enrolled in the schools of the coun-
try. To teach them both by precept ana
exsmrle there are more than half mil
lion teachers With these teachers TO
captain the fight for the spread of ny
genie knowledge. proper campaign, IL
has been estimated. will be the most eff
fectivc of all the health agencies at work
The main difficulty is to awaken the
teachers themselves to the Importance VI
the crusade. Gradually the tedcherS- III
the urban schools are being equipped TOT
this work and there has been great prog,
reSs i'm the same direction in the rura'
schools More than half the school cnli-
dren of the land already are receiving
fairly satisfactory hygienic instruction.
although the majority of those do not
get as much training of this KIND as the!
need.
some one has suggested that i'm every
city in the country there ought 10 ne
set aside one day i'll each month Wheh
the children could he taken through some
meteorological laboratory and there per
mitted TO see the germs of some OF ,ne
principal diseases with their own eyes
The effect of such a. program may DC
gathered from the results OF the Rocke-
teller sanitary commissions crusaie
against the hookworm. When that cru
SADIE began the people OF the south were
as incredulous as any Doubling Thomas
could be. But when they saw with their
own eyes they said. Seeing is bei1ev-
ing" and positive antagonism was trans
formed into warm cooperation me
sanitarians of all Europe now point
ing out the magnificent results that may
be accomplished by a well rounded cam
paign of education, as evidenced by this
crusade against the hookworm.
Many schools. even in the rural COM
munities, are teaching their pupils prac-
teal hygiene in
Pupils Are Taught very prac-
Practical Hygiene. teacher aroused
the interest of her children in an effort
10 abolish the common drinking cup.
They held a little entertainment and
raised enough money to get a suff1c1ent
number of tin cups to go around. Each
cup is numbered, and each child has
number to correspond. When they got
their drinking cups the next thing was
10 inspect their water supply. 1t was
he frnr W
water came received the drainage of a
hog zen in very wet times. The teacher
also had a chart made showing the va
riouS strata of rock in that vicinity, ana
thus showed that the water-bearing vein
which supplied the spring sometimes re-
ceived water that percolated from the
vicinity OF dwelling. All the children
entered into these little sanitary invest1-
cations with vim and gusto. and thus
they had hySienic measures applied TO
them while they were learning their
lessons of practical hygiene.
In many cities teachers have made
good use of various government publlca-
lions in impressinS upon the children
the great value of preventive medicine
The public health and marine hosp1ta
service some years since studied the milk
question in its relation to the spread of
typhoid fever, scarlet fever and the like
1t shows how cases break out on given
milk routes, while others are absolutely
free from the epidemic. 1t also shows
how, when there Is case of typhoid
fever on a dairy farm. there nearly al
ways follows an epidemic on the milk
routes supplied by il. When the children
thus see the case brought right down to
their own cities and their own milk sup
plies they get lesson that sticks.
One hope engendered in the work of
educating children in preventive medicine
is that it Will make them more intelligent
voters when they begin to take part in
municipal affairs. 1t has been found that
one of the principal difficulties in the way
of prosecuting sanitary measures in many
cities and towns arises from large
percentage of the population being home
owners. For instance, in mill towns,
where the operatives own their own
homes, they are seldom willing to vote
for the expenditure of an adequate sum
of money TO secure proper sanitary con-
ditions. Where a larger proportion of
the householders are tenants, 1t Is much
easier to secure the passage and en-
fOTcement of proper sanitary measures.
II is hoped that the education of the chill
dren as to the Importance and the econ
omy of adequate expenditures for sani-
tatiOn purposes will remove this difficulty.
II has been suggested that there ought
20 bc placed in every school a series of
C h I s
Charts Are Suggested showing
Emphasizing Mortality. ,s tne num