New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1913-01-01
FINANCIAL FREEDOM
IS NEED Of SCHOOLS
Continued from first page.

| The establishment in each school Oh
school savings bank. as authorized
| by a report recently adopted by the
Board Of Education, on motion Of Com
missioner Abraham Stern, for the pur-
pose Of developing habits of thrift and
/ teaching the value Of money
! An attempt should be made, as l
have frequently advocated in former
years to secure the transfer from the
Department Of Health to the Depart
ment Of Education OF the staff OF
physicians and nurses employed to dis
cover physical defects which retard
progress in school children. In support
of this measure it needs only to be
stated that last year the physicians
Of the Board Of Health examined only
little more than one-third Of all the
children on register in the schools, and
that of the defects discovered only
about one-half were remedied Ii is
! only in recent years that the public
and the teachers have come to realiz-
/ ing sense of the Importance of the
physical examination Of school chill
dren. For that awakening we are in
debted very largely TO our Department
of Health. The work, however should
he made much more efficient than II is.
All children should be examined at
least once a year and a proper fol
/ low-up system" should be established
/ in order to obtain the remedying OF
defects discovered. At present the
remedyng Of defects is left wholly to
the discretion of parents. Now, ii Is
quite obvious that "A child who cannot
breathe properly because OF adenoid
growths in the throat, or who cannot
masticate his food because Of defective
teeth, or who cannot see because Of de-
! fects in his eyesight. cannot do his
school work. Upon such children the
expenditure of the taxpayers money Is
largely wasted.
II would be Of incalculabe advan.
| tage to the children of this city If all
! their physical defects were discovered
and remeded. It is evident that that
will not be done until the whole matter
| is placed under the charge Of the
Board Of Education. The divided re-
sponsibility between the two bodies
the Department OF Health and the De-
partment Of Education-absolutely for
bids the hope Of complete efficiency. l
am in favor OF law which would sub
Ject to punishment parents who neg
ect or refuse TO place their children
| in proper physical condition TO profit by
! the ministrations of the school.
The time has core when an effort
I should be made 10 provide wholesome
| food at cost for children in our tene-
| ment house neighborhoods Among the
one-third Of the children examined by
physicians If the Board OF Health dur
| ing the last school year more than
| .,O.pDO were found to be suffering from
malnutrition. From such investigation
rs have been able To make / am con-
| WINGED that in only a small proportion
| Of these cases is malnutrition due TO
| the insufIicency Of food. 1t is due
| rather, in the majority of cases, TO i'm
proper food Children are given PEN
MES to buy their luncheon, and are
tempted by the bad pickles and bad
candy displayed before their hungerlng
ewes in the streets.
Fortunately, an experiment has been
made during the last two years by the
! New York Luncheon Association in
providing wholesome food at merely
nominal cost i'm six or seven Of our
| schools. The experiment has demon
strated that il is possible. under
proper system. 10 provide food at cost
prices On a large scale. In the interest
of suffering children this work should
/ be taken up and food provided. | need
scarcely add that | am not in favor Of
I giving food free. except in cases Of
utter restitution In such cases, how
ever. if food were given free the fact
/ should not be divulged in any way to
| the other children of the school.
We have gone far enough with our
experiment in trade schools TO know
not only that they have been success
full. but that there is Il great demand
| for such instruction, could ii be sup
piled In my judgment many chill
dren enter high schools and remain for
only six months or a year who would
be far better off if they entered
school in which they could be taught
the rudiments of a trade together with
! such mathematics science and draw
| Ing as are appropriate To the trade
| learned. We have two day trade
schools now-we should have at least
| twenty.
| An effort should be made to provide
continuation schools for boys and girls
who leave our elementary schools at
! fourteen to go to work. These schools.
as is the case in Germany. should pro-
vide instruction for six or eight hours
Il week until the pupil il eighteen. I
believe that such schools constitute the
only means of coping with the prOcliv-
| ity, all too strongly shown at present
by our young people. particularly boys.
to become members OF gangs which
| lead To the development of criminals.
At present the only opportunity for
these boys and girls is to attend our