The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1912-12-27
MEDICAL INSPECTION
URGED FOR SCHOOLS.
DIR. Rosa CAN'T of Spartanburg Dis
cusses Bill Now Pending in
the Legislature.
To the Editor of The State:

Find inclosed copy of an article
written by DR.. Rosa Can't of Spar
tanburg on the medical inspection of
schools bill. Will you kindly publish
it, with editorial notice, in an early
issue of The State, also with re-
quest that all county papers copy and
send marked copy to Mrs. M. T.
Coleman, Abbeville.
Anything you may do to further to
favorably agitate this question will
be greatly appreciated by the women
of South Carolina.
Hannah Hemphill Coleman.
Abbeville, December 10.
Every innovation, every new idea
requires explanation and until ex-
planned there is a liability of misun-
derstanding on the part of the public
and opposition to the change simply
because the innovation is not fully
understood and is misrepresented.
Such has been true of medical inspec-
tion of school children as advocated
for adoption into the schools of South
Carolina.
Medical inspection, to the average
mind, means a thorough physical ex-
animation of the pupil and diagno-
sis of his condition.; that it is some
scheme to invade the privacy of the
person of the pupil, that indignities
are offered, that parental rights are
invaded, that the defects and deform-
tiles of the children of the State are
to be advertised to the world, and
that the public schools attempt to
treat the physical condition of the
children.
Medical inspection is what its name
implies-nothing more-a cursory in
spection by a medical expert of the
pupils of the schools to determine de-
fects in them which interfere with
their school work.
In order to produce the maximum
of efficiency in the public schools,
consistent with the preservation of
health, the following need considera-
ton:
1. The detection of physical eff
fects.
2. The detection and exclusion of
parasite and contagious diseases.
3. Maintenance of good hygienic
conditions of the schools.
4. Detection of cases of mental in
efficiency.
5. Correlation of medicine and
pedagogy.
The question arises, Is this work
worth. while? Let US consider the
schools of the State in the nature of
a manufacturing establishment where
are manufactured educated compe-
tent men and women. The workmen
in the establishment are the teachers
The State of South Carolina has put
restrictions around the employment
of the teachers so as to secure eff
cient workmen and workwomen and
spends thousands of dollars on Glenn
son and Winthrop colleges in order
to secure more skilled workers. The
material upon which the teachers
work are the children of the State.
In every modern manufacturing es-
tablishment, in the manufacture of
shoes, clothing, hats, automobiles,
carriages, wagons, etc. every part of
the material is examined and tested
so that the finished product is as near
perfect as the skill of man can pro-
duce. 1t is the idea of the advocates
of medical inspection to apply the
same principles to the school system
of the State that the manufacturers
of material products apply to their
work.
The teacher is often hampered in
her efforts to impart knowledge and
information by physical defects in the
pupil that are unknown to her and
unnoted by the parents of the child.
We concede that if the teachers of the
schools were medical experts if the
parents were learnd enough to detect
physical defects and would properly
examine their children, medical in
spection in the public schools would
be unnecessary; such, however, is not
the case and physical defects in
school children are daily passed un-
noticed by teachers and parents and
are brought to light only by the oD-
servation of physician.
The eye is a tool mainly by which
information is obtained during school
life and to know that this implement
is fitted for it's work is the highest
importance. The ear is second only to
the eye and to expect child with a