The Sentinel=record., 1913-12-14
THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS


 IT one had to be sacrificed for the other the state would undoubtedly say Give us strong bodied men and Women.' And yet for years the state has been deyoting its funds to "edu. catlonal purposes" without any def. nlte appropriations for guarding the children physically.
 Few children, in this age of scien. tiiic standards, when bodies built foc the out-ofdoors have been subiected to artificial conditions, are physically perfect There are strained eyes from poor light or over-much reading: there is defective hearing caused by carelessly treated childhood ailments or given by inheritance: there are adenoids and catarrh due 10 climatic conditions; and weak threats and lungs from unhygienic living and ove~ heating None of these individual difficulties is helped or watched in the schools.
 Parents do not recognize them: teachers are not trained nurses O. i physicians so that they can detect the symptoms, and so the crippled chil. dren struggle on. laying up greater i physical burdens for the future. and preparing for a weaker race 10 follow them. The state or city by failing to make the physical child its first care. defeats it's hope for the growth of the childs mentality
 As shown in previous articles. q great percentage of our retardation. of our truancy of our feeble-mindad- ness is due 10 preventable physical conditions among our school children.
 "Wthin certain well-defined limita. tions disease is preventable."
 What Hot Springs is Doing to Pre- vent.
 We are enforcing the vaccination law and have stamped smallpox out We have one school building with light and heat conditions which will not endanger the health of children we could not make the same boast about other buildings We have elim- mated She public drinking cupp
 Individual teachers have tried to stimulate interest in care of the teehh and have distributed tooth paste sam pies furnished hy manufacturers. But the teachers are not dentists, and cannot watch diseased mouths and contaminated membranes.
 Some of the Things Hot Springs Might Do.
 |. Hot Springs could. if it would. create a situation in which no child could stagger unassisted under a bur den of poor health, and in which tho schools could obtain 100 per cent of results by working with clear minds and strong bodies.
 2 Medical inspection in the schools could and should at once be estaD- lishod There are enough physicians in Hot Springs to have a volunteer in every school of the town two or three hours a day without any ouc of them feeling the strain of such service And our physicians are more than gener. ous in their willingness 10 give time Ior public service, and would gladly serve if the regular inspection were cstablshedR
 3. A dental clinic. acting in the same way as the medical inspection, could not mer9y record the needs of children but could correct them with few hours work week.
 f. Health records should be kept of every ohild They are as impor- tant as scholastic records or atten- dance records. They should show a crooked spine. rounded shoulders de- fectye eyesight or weak lungs, so that al school forces might cooper ate to eliminate the weakness.
 5. Cooperation with the board or health. There is no broader field ot activity for board of health than that offered by the inspection of the ecbo1s School premises might be read ily scrutinized hy this body and mio' imum health essentials required by them The board of health is the losi- cal official source of responsibility and should supervise all health work in tbe schools and be held directly rosponsible by school patrons for any endemic or for individual eases or fragrant neglect.