Year: 1873

The obstacles which medical writer's inform
us stand in the way of public education for
children are so formidable that it is no wonder
q large proportion of our readers who have
children of their own are dispirited, and
feel either like giving up the contest in de-
spair or trusting to some happy chance by
which their little ones may be got through in
safety Chief among these obstacles appear
to be bad ventilation, the forcing process and
insufficient relaxation for younger pupils.
Half Of these errors are to be attributed to
parents and teachers, and the other half to
school boards and school architects. A general
ignorance Of what the health of children
demands epitomizes the whole matter, for it can
scarcely be believed, if wisdom existed in the
quarters where we are necessitated to loo, for
it, that the evil would not soon correct itself
But ignorant parents send their children to
ignorant teachers, in schools built by ignorant
architects and governed by ignorant boards.
However intelligent these men and women
may be in certain respects (and many of them
are intelligent only as to the means of getting
as much out of the way as possible of the
trouble entailed by duty), they are ignorant
of the hygienic principles involved in the
proper education of young children The
jurisdiction, which should be in the hands Of
men of wide, absorbent intellects and Deep
affectionate unselfsh hearts, is determined by
a puny and disgusting political preference
The ambition Of the architect is limited
to producing q handsome edifce which
will be permanent advertisement and
the question of health is ignored
in what he conceives to be architectural
beauty. The average parent loves his child in
obedience to natural instinct, and seldom
directs the operation of that love by liberal
knowledge and conscientious expression of
his own weaknesses. Of all the offenders we
feel least inclined to blame the teachers, who
give their best years to one of the most toll
some vocations upon earth, are poorly and
procrastinatingly paid, and seldom or never
thanked. Under the circumstances they can
hardly be very severely censured for not hav-
ing the moral bravery to throw themselves out
of employment by expostulating with school
boards, opposing the imbeclities of parents,
atoning for the designs-that is to say, the
blunders-of architects, and, in addition to the
labor for which they are paid, performing
work that should have been preliminarily
discharged by others.


We see, then, that the hygienic well
fare of children educated in schools has
very wide relations, and that it is in
vain to expect any great reformation
until there is more even spread of
culture among parents and school directors,
or until some educational genius shall arise
who shall cut right and left, and accomplish
more in the ripe years of his maturity than
generation of feebler workers cold do. No
despicable result, however, light be accom-
plished by the appointment of a thoroughly
qualified medical inspector, to whom proper
powersend privileges should be assigned. At
present there is no medical inspection of our
public schools, the medical inspectorship hav-
ing been recently abolished, for reasons which
the average intelligence and conscientiousness
of school directors will not permit us to
believe are good We want these infant acorns,
from which the future forests of American
manhood and womanhood are to spring. to be
sound. If we cannot have wise parents, self
abnegating architects, school boards of brain
and conscience and teachers with the spirit
of martyrs, let us at least have competent
medical inspector, and reduce the evil to a
minimum.