Mexico Missouri message., 1916-03-16
PROF. PRYOR WRITES.
MexicO's Superintendent Of Schools
Down East, liz New York.

Dear Mr.. Beal:
1t is long step from the life of an
active superintendent of schools at
Mexico to the life of a student in CO.
lumbia University, New York. Life
in pigeon hole, no. 91S, on the ninth
floor of New York sky scraper is
quite different from life with my
family in the comfortable cottage on
Woodlawn l may also add that the
dining service in a Missouri home
presided over by a southern home
making expert is also somewhat diff
ferent from the cafaterias and auto
matte lunches in New York However,
l am becoming adjusted to the new
way of living and have time and en-
ergy for short message to the peo-
pie at home.
wish to endorse, most heartily,
the action of the Board of Educa-
tion in providing for the physical ex-
animation of the children at school.
l trust that this may mark the be-
ginning of the movement at Mexico
to conserve the health and strength
of our children. There has been no
more important movement in eduCa-
tion during the last two decades than
that of the conservation of the health
of school children by regular medical
inspection of schools. This move
ment has gained such headway that
there are over five hundred cities in
the United States today that are do
ing regular and definite work along
this line. 1t has passed the earlier
stage of medical inspection" and has
entered the field of preventative med
icine. Its kynote is the cultivation of
the health of all and the prevention
of effectiveness in any by the hy-
gienic supervision of all school ac-
tivities.
A few quotations from a new
book on Public School Administra-
tion, published last month, by Prof.
E. P. Cubberly, of Leland Stanford
University, one of the foremost au-
thorities in the United States on
school problems, will carry convic-
tion as to the importance of the
movement. "Only about four per
cent of the school children, statistics
show, need to be excluded in any one
year on account of contagious dis
eases, while fifty or sixty per cent
of the children suffer from non '
contagious physical defects, which in
terfere more or less with educational
procedure, and which need to be ta- q
ken into account by school authori- g
ties *The problem is how best g
to conserve the child's native phys
ical vigor and to overcome, as far as {
possible, his hereditary or acquired a
deficiencies, not only that {
his progress in school may be normal, I
but that he may develop into a strong
and sound human being, knowing c
how to care for himself "Re-
suits obtained in many American and
European cities have clearly demon /
strated that very small added cost t
from ten to seventy five cents per pu-
pill per year, varying somewhat with
the kind of health service provided: ]
for room of forty pupils and addi- 1
tional daily expense of from two to
sixteen cents per room-win provide
a health service which will increase
the value of the instruction offered
out of all proportion to its ac-
tual cost"
Mexico has one of the best school I
systems in the middle West and has
now reached a point, when, in my
Judgment, it would be wise to give
more attention to the health of the
children by the employment of reg
llar nurse for either part or full
time as the size of the school may :
require. q
Later, hope TO write of some OF 4
The modern movements in education &
which are attracting nation wide 4
plete reorganization OF the school sys- &