Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-12-31
Evils and Remedies Given
Which Should Appeal to
School Authorities and Pa
rents Alike
By JESSE w. ARMIsTEAD

In a statement of the defects in
American education, with Sugges-
tions for remedying them, written
fer the commencement of Reed col
Iege, and for publication in the Reed
College Record, DR.. Charles w.
Eliot, president emeritus of Harvard
university, one of the most noted
educators of America, says the med
ical inspections of school children
and the medical examinations of
young men called for service in the
American army and navy during the
war with Germany have revealed in
children and young men a large per-
centage of bodily defects which Inn
pair the children's capacity for doing
efficient school work and which pre-
vented many young men from SerY-
ing their country during the war. 1t
is pointed out, however, that many
of the defects and disorders IN
school children are remediable, but
thus far there has been no general
organization and enforcement Oh
remedial processes.
1.-THE remedies for the large per-
centage of abnormal and diseased
school children and young men,,
SAYS DR.. Eliot, "are. of course, med
ical, including all the agencies
grouped under the head of preventive
medicine. The medical examiner, the
should be regular members Of every
school system in the country, rural
as well as urban, and their work
should go on necessarily, not for a
few days out of the year, but all
through the year. The first duty
of these permanent officials should
be the detection of defects and dis
cases, out their principal function
should be following up the children
10 their homes ond instructing their
parents as to remedial action. Since
it will not be possible to obtain per-
manent improvement in society as a
whole in respect to the bodily de-
fects of children and adolescents
until the whole community has been
enlightened in regard to nutrition,
housing, community cleanliness, ana
the medical means of controlling cpl
denies this medical instruction, to
be given through physicians ana
nurses employed at public expense,
is the most legitimate kind of public
instruction in a democracy become
heterogeneous. The expenditure is
necessary to the accomplishment OF
an indispensable reform. The begin
ming should be made at once, and
the national, state and municipal
land county, governments should ali
take part in the work"
Mistakes in Diet
DR.. Eliot points out that the stud
les of the American and European
food supplies have brought into view
the fact that the diet of the Ameri-
can people as a whole has been very
wasteful and poorly selected as re-
CARDS the chemical constituents. "All
classics. the poorest as well as the
richest, have erred habitually in re-
spect to both quantity and quality
of their food"
'eThe remedy for the bad diet Of
The American people as a whole.
SAYS Dr. Eliot, will be found in tbs
addition to the program or every
school in the country of SO much
instruction N chemistry, physics and
biology as is necessary, first, to the
comprehension by every pupil Of the
different elements which make up 2
complete diet for infant, child AMI
adult, and, secondly, to the mastery
hy both sexes of the processes OF
cooking and serving food in whole
some ways. That amount OF applied
science should be learned by every
boy and girl in every American
school before the age OF sixteen ana
no subject, except the English Ian
guage, should take precedence OF
that subject"
To secure for every child in the
country a complete course OF physl-
cal training is a great national OBJ
ject, DR.. Eliot declares, and part OF
the expense of the course should be
borne by the federal government. In
Switzerland there is a program OF
physical training for every school,
and inspectors are appointed to see
that the program is properly car
ried out. 1.-The war with Germany
has already taught us that the Unit
ed States should henceforth and at
once do the same thing in aid OF the
states and the municipalities on the
same all-important subject: When a
proper course of physical training
has been in operation for twelve TO
fifteen years, the productiveness OF
the national industries will show a
wonderful increase"
DR.. Eliot says it remains to be
seen whether the efforts made in
Russia and America to abolish the
manufacture and sale of whisky, and
the attempts of Great Britain to re-
strict the sale of whisky, will have
permanent effects toward reducing
the evils wrought on these people Dy
alcoholism. They are evils trans
MISSILE from one generation to an
other through the birth OF dlseas-
ed. defective and feeble-minded chill
dren, and of children peculiarly sus-
ceptible to formidable diseases IN
later life He says it is the duty OF
all schools and colleges to impari
this knowledge to the pupils, and that
no vested interests and no class priv
ileges should be allowed to interfere
with the discharge of this serious
public duty.
Mental Def -
The last census rep
~ per cent of the p
ica ten years of age
illiterates-being una
their native language