The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1920-02-27
HEALTH IN THE SCHOOLS.
The Parents Relation To Medical
Inspection of Schools.

Inspection OF ScnOOlS.
For the majority of American par
ents the compulsory education law
was not necessity. There is, how
ever, a careless, Indifferent and uni
formed minority which made such
law necessary. But the averaged
parent wants his child to be educa-
ted. Many a father whose advant-
ages in this respect were limited, has
a deep-rooted determination that hisl
boy shall not be similarly handicap
ped Hence, the child is often sentl
to school at considerable sacrifice
on the part of the parents. Often it |
would seem that his services arei
needed in the home, or the cost of
properly eQuipping him for school is,
almost prohibitive. But the con-
scientious parent struggles on, and
the Indifferent one is prodded by the
law, and the child is kept in school.
Under these circumstances, has
not the parent the right to demand
that the school shall make these
sacrifices worth while, that every
hour of his child's time which is
spent in school shall mean some
acquisition of knowledge, skill, or
training, some mental or physical
gain that shall accrue to the child's
lasting benefit?
These demands are perfectly rea-
sonable and just, but they will not
be fulfilled until the child's physical
defects, which are hampering his
progress, are discovered and remedi-
ed, and he is given the proper sur
roundings and facilities for his best
physical development. Without a
foundation of health-physical fit
ness-it is only the exceptional child
that can get from the school the best
that the school should give him. A
good system of school hygiene with
medical supervision will bring this
ideal nearer to the average child.
After parent has made every pos
sible sacrifice for his child, and has
effort to make that child not only
self-supporting but capable of per-
/ forming all the duties of good citi-
zenship, has he not the right to ex-
pect some return on his investment?
The law in Maryland says that he
has, because it makes the support of
INDECENT parents obligatory for the
children. But if the schools con-
tinue to send out children without
making an adequate effort to insure
them foundation of health, the con-
sequence of this-mental as well as
physical-will probably render these
children incapable of anything more
than their own support The
thoughtful parent may feel some re-
sentiment against the lack of health
supervision that leads to such disas-
trous results.
Another thing which the parent
has a right to demand of the schools
is that his child shall at least leave
the school in as good condition as
when he entered it. His eyesight
must not be injured by poor lighting,
his body cramped by bad seating, or
his resistance lowered by bad heat
ing and ventilation. Neither must
he be unnecessarily exposed to the
contagion and infection of which
every well-trained teacher should
have at least some knowledge. No
teacher, particularly in the rurai
schools, should be considered ade
quately trained unless she is rooted
and grounded in the principles oil
hygiene in the modern sense of that
word.
When every parent in every COM
munity demands these two things of
its school system-medical inspec-
ton of schools and the training of
teachers in hygiene-we shall have
healthier, better educated people.
E. BLANCHE STERLING, M. D.
U. S. Public Health Service.