The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1912-10-18
HOAG DEALTN HEALTH
FACTS At HIGHSCHOOL

Or. Ernest Bryant Hoag, special
director Of school hygiene for the
Minnesota state board of health,
will speak at a parents meeting in
the high school building this even
ing on the subject, "The Health OF
School Children"
DR.. Ernest Bryant Hoag, special
director of school hygiene for the
Minnesota state board of health, de-
livered an address yesterday after
noon to the public school teachers
!of Mankato, in which he discussed
the subject of medical inspection in
schools and outlined a system of eX.
animation by means of which every
teacher may examine each pupil in
her room and find out just what
children have defective brains or
bodies. In the introduction to his
address DR.. Hoag said that there is
a great difference of opinion about
just what medical inspection of
oShooiS iOdiy III ulhClCuI pdTIO
of the country the term has very
different meanings. In fact, the work
that goes by this name is really not
medical inspection at all. Ten or fif-
teen years ago it meant that a doc
tor would go to a school and inspect
some noticeably unhealthy child,
that is, he would look at the child s
fingers to see if he had the itch,
examine his teeth, look at his skin
to see if he had any erupting skin
disease and then take a peep at his
hair for obvious reasons. The work
which DIR. Hoag is promoting is
really health supervision and it's pur.
pose is to help the child to do better
and more efficient work. He denies
being faddist, for health super
vision is not a fad but a necessity,
and although heretofore the work
has had more or less medical as
pect, DR.. Hoag claims that the aver
age grade teacher is perfectly ca
pable of carrying on the work in a
very satisfactory manner.
Prepared Little Booklet.
Mr.. Hoag has prepared little
booklet called can Outline for thu
Health Grading of the School Child
and in this outline he gives a series
OF questions for the pupil to answer
about himself and another set for
the teacher to answer about the gen.
eral appearance of the child. The
answers which the pupil gives con-
Germ his every day habits and condi-
tions, such as, coffee drinking, ven
tilation or use of the tooth brush.
DR.. Hoag says he has discovered not
few cases where the family tooth
brush was thought no more of than
a family towel The questions also
ascertain whether the child has de-
fective eyesight or hearing by ask
ing If the child can see easily what
is written on the blackboard, wheth-
er the print in his book blurs be-
fore his eyes, whether or not his
ears run and if he has difficulty in
hearing.
The questions asked the teacher
she answers from her own personal
observation. She must notice wheth-
er or not the child is healthy look
ing, whether he has any peculiarities
of standing or walking, whether he
is normally advanced in school, if
he has any nervous conditions, such
as nailbiting, stammering, spasmodic
movements or irritability. She must
know whether the child is normally
emotional, condition of his voice, ap-
pearance of the teeth and the gen.
eral facial makeup. DR.. Hoag says
that he finds great many cases of
abnormal emotion. This generally
appears in young girls from the age