Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-12-19

j several cities, consists in having child
appointed in each room to act as health
officer. He Is responsible for the tempcra-
| ture ventilation and humidity of the
I, schoolroom atmosphere. His first duty
| is to read the thermometer hourly and
, record the readings in a book. After
ward lie charts the readings a nurse
| keeps clinical chart This chart may
be placed upon the blackboard. Several
simple instruments may be used in stand
ardizing the atmospheric conditions of the
Schoolrooin. \ whiriing wet-dry bulb has
been recommended bv the United States
| weather bureau for registering humidity.
This can easily be read by Il child eleven
years old and one instrument of the kind
is sufficient FOR an entire building.
x !:
| The humidity can be recorded half an
hour before the opening of school ses-
sion. When need
Sense OF Smell cd the health Of
to Tell Fresh Air i i'r, 49,, ca, r,i e.
sources Of humidity, evaporating pans.
radiators, etc, so as to maintain a rela-
| tive humidity of 30 per cent. When ven
tiating fiues have no current indicators,
the health officer can learn to measure
the current of Il room by an instrument
designed for this purpose. or he can
learn to estimate il by burning candles
/ or joss sticks. The freshness of the air
may be determined by smell, comparing
that of the room itself with that which
! comes from an open window. Each child
of sufficient age should be permitted to
act health officer during the year In
order that the knowledge gained may be
carried into his own home. The instruc-
ton in this work can usually be given by
the school nurse.
The provision of food for school chill
; dren has been opposed by many upon
the ground that it was not the province
of the school to feed the children, but
most city school boards now believe that
it is the province of the school to do any
thing conducive to the health and welfare
OF the child. The establishment of the
open-air school has much 10 do with the
recognition of the need of supplying food
to school children. Extra nutrition is an
| important part of the treatment for tu-
berculosis both to fortfy the patient
| against exposure to the outdoor air and
| to help overcome the disease
/ City teachers know how many little
folks come breakfastless to school each
morning, and how great an effect this
lack has upon their mental aptitude. Civ
| ing school breakfasts is not yet general
but it is being done in public schools in
Philadelphia, New York and Chicago.
Usually the matter is arranged by the
principal in cooperation with the domes-
tic science teacher. A cereal, cup of
| warm cocoa and u piece of bread will
make comfortable breakfast for Il child
upon a chilly morning. In some schools
an emergency fund is used in this way.
| Frequently the means are supplied by
voluntary contributions upon the part of
the teachers or Of some organization
which they have interested Sometimes
the lack OF breakfast is not due so much
to poverty as to the carelessness of the
mother. The visiting teacher and school
nurse may be able to alter conditions, but
the health of the child demands that
when no home provision is made for his
breakfast the school must supply it.
The success with which the effort to
Gates how grea:
Schools Furnish the need is The
r,.,c demand for break
fast would be
equally great In many schools. 1t is best
for the child to pay a small sum. if pos
sible. When a mother gives child j
cents to buy something to eat at a bake
shop, in lieu of the breakfast he should
have at home, the school can supply food
better suited to his health for the same
money. This is being done in a number
of cities, usually under the direction of
some woman's club or other organization.
but the school always guarantees the
quality of the food, thus making it an i'm
portant health movement.
The menu furnished for the school lunch
varies with the nationality of the chill
dren for whom it is supplied. The menu
for q school in New York, having over
1000 Jewish children I'm attendance, is
supervised by Il rabbi having a kosher
cook to serve il. The children of an Ital-
ian neighborhood at first refused to eat
such strange foods as sandwiches, bean
soup. rice pudding, milk and cocoa instead
of the rich greasy soups of their own
land. Little by little the teachers made
them understand how much more whole
some was the proffered food, and soon the
Italian mothers came to the school beg
1 ging to be taught how to prepare the
American food for their children at
home. An accurate table of weights kept
for three months in New York school
last year gave the average gain of the
children having the school lunch at ten
and half pounds against three and a
half pounds for the children who We're not
so nourished The school discipline is
also easier. because when the children are
properly nourished they change from rest
less. unsatisfied little bodies into pupils
willing and ready to work