The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-11-01

nothing in life is worth while ME,
out health" says Mr.. Tigert '1-
We have long taught The tbo,-
OF health in the schools tb 10y
courses in physiology. We s,l
combating disease and def
through school doctors and sc l1o,S
nurses. But we have ONLY Is s,oI4
come to see that it is the 49,
practice of health habits wkicS
! important, and that ii is the a.
of the public schools to give y
every child this foundation for -
sonal success and value as a ri,.
zen" III
Our Low Standard OF Health
That the health standard ~ -.
nation does need raising. and mns
be raised i'll some way was shovD
by the oft-quoted draft figurssu.
one out of four men UNFIT for "a,
vice.
In the schools four out OF sv.
children need dental treatmen,
And, according to DR.. l.. Emmett
Holt, surveys made among gebnoI
children, both in city and countrv
showed an average of fully 90 ne,
cent who were so much undernour-
ished as to be considered in a ser.
ious condition.
The bureau of education il es-
pecially interested in improving
underweight defects. Weight is an
index of health. In children. ana
in grown persons as well, excessive
fat or thinneSs is almost invariablv
a sign of some health rule disre-
garded. Occasionally the condition,
is the result of some disease.
A normal child gains weight with
more or less regularity. and should
weigh somewhere near the stand
ard for his age and height
Children who weigh as much as
10 per cent below the figure set
as a standard for their age and
height are sub-normal physically.
A child who is not more than Is
per cent heavier than the standard
is probably healthy. and has a re-
serve of strength that is desirable.
Weight more than Is per cent above
the standard is apt to be over
weight, and generally implies some
fault in food, sleep, exercise or
breathing.
The standards approved by the
government and printed for school
room use were fixed by Dr. Thorn
as D. Wood, director of physical
training of Columbia university.
The table is regarded as the best
available.
In t,S FnhIa ~
consulted statistics gathered from
10000 records of Horace Mann
school children; life insurance sta
tistics for the Is to 20 year period;
statistics gathered by well known
doctors, and statistics of New York
school children, Il to 16 years old
who were examined for permission
to work
The government is urging schools
all over the country to have SCALES
as health equipment and use The
government weight table In s0Re
communities the parent-teacheT as
ISOLATION or some other organiza-
ton is giving a scale to a school
With this apparatus on
hand, a record can easily be kept
from month to month showing how
each child stands.
Besides a scale in every school
the board of education
would like to see hot lunches in
every school And it hopes that
soon we may have all over the
country school physicians, ade-
quately paid and engaged To give
all of their time to the schools
Then the school doctor can not
only prevent disease but he can
assist the teacher to make well
children healthier.
Not until the schools begin TO
spend some time and money or
the bodies as well as the brains Of
the children can we hope to reach
the governments aim to have 80
per cent of the children Of the
country well nOurished, strong,
alert and clean.