Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-08-31
SCHOOL HYGIENE
TOPIC DISCUSSED
Medical inspection of Pupils
Urged by DR.. Ira S. Vile
of New York.
DEFECTS AND DISEASES
AND PROPER REMEDIES
Address by Sir James Kerr of Lon
don OH the Illumination
of Classrooms,

| BUFFALO, n y August 3o-Dr. Ira
! ;. Vile, 4 member Of the New York city
board of education, today read his second
! paper before the fourth International
s. Congress on School Hygiene. His sub
iect was medical inspection of schools
as community investment, and he
| spoke. in part, as follows.
''Origirally medical inspection was III
! stituted to detect contagious diseases in
4 order to eliminate their spread by school
! children. Later the belief arose that
| retardation and deficiencies in studies
We're due to physical defects. particular
| ~ those of the sense organs This caused
| an expansion of medical inspection to
| medical examination. Today medical in
spection virtually includes the discovery
| of contagious diseases and the deter
nina ton of physical defects which in
terfere with ability to perform school
work the detection of physical alb
normalties which if neglected will af-
feet the future efficiency of the chill
dren
Medical inspection extends in two di-
rectons: % The inspection of the en-
vironment. that is, the site, the school
buildings and the various factors of
health therein contained; ~ the child
medical inspector should consider prob
| lens of hygiene. such as light yentila-
ton, heating, toilet facilities. etc. but
primarily he must solve educational qlleS-
| tons, such as the establishment of time
| schedules. the arrangement of receSSeS,
the grouping and specialization of
Eclasses. broadly speaking. the work OF
medical inspection covers two general
( fields of endeavor-the prey 1ltive and
the remedial.
Correction the Aim of Inspector.
! with the existent physical defects.
| correction is the aim of the medical in
! spector. The more valuable field of eff
! fort is in the realm of prophylaxis 1t
| is within his power to obviate further
| defects, deformities and diseases during
| the period of school life. so that de-
terioration may be prevented during the
years of compulsory education. This
| forms the maximum hygienic benefit
which makes medical inspection valu-
| able investment for the community.
| IF medical inspection can esta blish the
number of children suffering from NAL
nutrition and then secure the co-opera-
] ton necessary to restore the sufferers
to condition of normal vitality. the
| educational benefits will he enormous.
| The economic and educational value of
| nutrition may be partially understood
1
tive teeth take eight and a half years to
go through eight grades of school. while
children with enlarged glands require %
years to go through the same grades. 1t
/ is hardly necessary to comment upon
the rate of Illness as it occurs amonS
/ children in the primary schools. large
factor in the retardation of children in
the elementary schools is the absence
due to i'll health, and a large part of this
| i'll health is due to malnutrition of the
child starved mind rpqlIiroS nhCSit,.t
! as well as mental pabulun.
Shows Educational Waste.
IF 1000 children suffer retardation in
school for year because of the de-
crease in vitality due to adenoiGs and
enlarged tonsils, as was reported in the
state of Minnesota. the educational waste
is evident. If the cost of instruction of
each child is $50 per annur the economic
loss would represent 81 GOO,Gn Possibly
this economic decrement is Somewha
theoretical because the children would
be- receiving instruction anyway. The
true deficit would be the decrease in edu-
cation as result of leaving school one
or two grades below that reached by
normal children.
The correction of defects increases the
industrial efficiency of future citizens
and thus tends to make them more valu-
able to the community. BY increasing
industrial efficiency the future win profit
from a decrease Of dependency and pau
pcrism and a dimiuution in civic loss by
death, sickness and fncapacity. In the
words of Sir Lauder Brumton: 1T is
cheaper to spend pence on children
than pounds on paupers.' BY decreasing
blindness, insanity and criminality and
similar social burdens, medical inspection
tends TO tighten future municipal expendi-
lures for the relief of such conditions
Such are some of the positive benefits of
medical inspection regarded us COM
munal investment
Address by Sir James Kerr.