The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-09-05
Great Evils in the Public
Schools and the Remedies

From Harper's Weekly.
The longer the average American boy
or girl remains in the average American
school, the farther he drops below the
standard set for average American boys
and girls. That is the amazing truth
about an institution that has been our
brag since the Revolution.
For a great many years now. the Ma
tional Mouth Hygiene Association has
been telling the school authorities of the
country to hire a dentist" DIR. William
Osler, Of Johns Hopkins University, and
DIR. Frank Mayo, of Rochester, have Civ
en- the same advice. DIR. Osler has point
ed out that the germs of scarlet fever
frequently hide in the cavities of the
teeth. DR.. Mayo has been able to trace
infections in surgical wounds to the
/ micro-organisms sometimes found at the
roots of teeth. But If all the germs in
creation chose the teeth of school chill
dren as an incubator to hatch out their
| young. the school directors could not see
what business that was of theirs.
However, the hygiene association was
not discouraged. 1t continued to give
advice even though wise men, would
not listen, until one day a school board
was found that was ready to hear what
the crusaders for healthy mouths had to
say. No one knows how it happened.
| Possibly the board of education was tired
of having these nuisanccs around and de-
| cided that the only way to get rid of
them was to give them what they want
| ed. Be that as II may, the association
finally got permission to look into the
mouths of the school children of Cleve-
land
! Mouth Responsible for Ills.
! The result was startling Il showed
| conditions even worse than the associa-
ton had contended. Ninety-eight per
! cent of all the school children in Cieve-
land were found to have mouths, poten-
TALLY. If not actually responsible for i'll
health.
The crusaders decided to prove to
| Cleveland what II was losing through
| these defective mouths. After looking
! over the city pretty thoroughly. they
went to a school in the slums. the Mar
| ion School, and elected twenty-seven
children who were to form an object les
| son to the whole city, yes. and to the
country as we'll They chose those TWEEN
ty-seven children because. in all Cleve-
land, they had been unable to find TWEEN
ty-seven children with mouths in worse
condition.
Most of the selected children were be-
| hind in their school work. Just to prove
| that this stupidity was not Unborn \
psychologist was called in. He gave tests
to show the mental efficiency of the chill
dren. Then the dentist started his work.
Dirty teeth were cleaned: decaycd teeth
| were filed and then the tooth brush was
introduced. The youngsters were taught
how to brush their teeth and how to eat
their food. At the end of a year. the
psychologist again made his tests.
The result is best told in the story Of
the worst boy in school He was bad
boy He was rebellious. He was deceit
full. He was a nuisance in the school
room. the terror Of the yard. But he
was also a rather puny. sickly boy. one
of five children whose mother was dead
and whose father spent his days in
sweat shop. pressing caps to provide
living for his children.
The worst boy in school is no longer
the worst boy In fact, so his teachers
report. he Is quiet and gentlemanly and
takes a decided interest in hrs, school
work. After a year. the psychological
chart shows an increased mental eff
cheney. The dentist did 1t.
Crossed Eyes Cured.
In this same city Of Cleveland. a little
girl was found who had spent hours
each day over a lesson that other chill
dren learned In minutes. At the end of
the day. her head ached so that she had
to be put to bed. The reason was that
ner eyes were crossed. When the der
tist came, he pulled a tooth. The tooth
had pressed on a nerve connecting with
her eyes. Relieved of this pressure. the
eyes naturally adjusted themselves.
The longer the average American boy
or girl remains in the average American
public school, the farther he drops below
the standard set for average American
boys and girls. Mr.. E. A. Wreidt, of the
Chicago Civic Club. made an investiga-
ton OF retardation in the schools of that
city His investigation showed that at
the age of years. only 13.2 per cent of
the children are behind their classes, but
this percentage grows larger and larger
with increasing age. until at 10, more
than one-half of the children are below
the standard.
We have gotten past the point where
we close our eyes very tight and simply
by repeating q thing often enough con-
vince ourselves that it is so. There was
a time when we shut our eyes tight and
told ourselves that children left school
because they had to work to Keep froin
starving. Now We know that great
many more children leave school be-
cause the school cannot hold their inter-
est than leave on account of economic
necessity When or doctor discovers
that orc medicine doesn't agree with US,
he prescribes another. But when John
Henrys educational medicine doesn't
agree with him and he lags behind his
class and becomes more dissatisfied with
his work the longer he remains in school,
there is no rev medicine for him to try.
So we take him out Of school.
Alarming Prevalence of Disease.
How much physical disability has to do
with this lack of interest was pretty
clearly shown by the Cleveland expert
ment The reader. in the light of that
exl eriment, may consider the following
facts and answer for himself the ques-
ton What are we going to do about it,"
OF all pupils in the schools of this coun-
try, From Il 1-2 to 2 per cent? 100000 to
zoo, 900 have organic heart disease: prob
ably { 5 per cent? 100000 have now or
have had tuberculous disease of the
lungs: about Is per cent? 100000 at least
have spinal curvature, fiat foot or some
other moderate deforTnatory serious
enough to interfere with health; over
Is per cent? 1.00O. 600 have defective hear
ing. about rs per cent? 100000 have de-
fective vision: about (25 per cent? 5000
900 are suffering from malnutrition, in
many cases due in part to one or MOI
of the other defects enumerated; over
go per cent? 100000 have charged ton
sils, adenoids or enlarged cervical glands
which need attention; over $50 per cent?
10. o00. 600 lin some schools as high as IS
Ger cent? have defective teeth; several
millions of these children possess each