The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo. MONDAY, JULY 29, 1912. HEALTH IN THE SCHOOL

Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 180, 29 July 1912, Page 4

The Auckland Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News and The Echo.

MONDAY, JULY 29, 1912. HEALTH IN THE SCHOOL

. i For the cause that lacks aeeiHanm, For the wrong that needs resistmmoe, ' For the future in the distance, ] And the good that we con do. . j . i

The initiation of a system of medical inspection for our primary schools is a matter of very considerable public importance, and we have no doubt that a large number of our readers were interested in the partkml&TS that we published last week of the scheme that is now being organised in New Zealand -with this end in view. It must be understood, however, that the proposal to establish such a system has been under the consideration of Government for som? years pact. So far back as 1904 the Hon. •Mr McGowan submitted a scheme for medical school inspection, which was approved by the medical and educational authorities, bat was laid aside on account of the heavy cost it would involve. In a recently published work on "Medical Examination of Schools and Scholars," edited by Dr. Kely , and including contributions from many dietinguished medical authorities, Dr. Mason, late chief Public Hearth Officer, explains that the original idea was to appoint an examiner for each educational district. The teachers were to help with the work by preparing lists of the scholars who seemed to them to require inspection, and detailed examination was to be limited to these cases. As there are about 135,000 children on ■the primary school rolls throughout the (Dominion, end nearly one-third of these attend schoole in Auckland district alone, it is certainly difficult to imagine how four officials, one appointed for each of the large centres could be expected to get through the work in a year. But the main fact is that this scheme, so long delayed, is to be inaugurated forthwith, and that within a few weeks we Should sec it in working order. The theoretical necessity for some siren system of medical examination of school children is now generally recognised in all civilised coimmrnitres. In most of the -education districts at Home, for example, specially appointed school medical officers inspect the children for defects in dentition, hearing, eight, and breathing, and also for indications of akin complaints. ißnt, as Dr. Cawkwcll .pointed out in his communkation to 119 last week, the medical officers do not treat the childrenthey merely diagnose their condition and make recommendations to the parents. In the United States the movement in favour of regular medical inspection for schools is making rapid headway; and large numbers of schools are now regularly inspected, not only by doctors in search of signs of contagious and organic diseases, but by the teacbtrrs who arc trained to condiret examinations for defective hearing and vision. In Germany, the State medical officials are ' largely responsible for the medical inspection of schools, and the work 13 done in the thoroughgoing systematic way that always seems to characterise German official administration. Every child, on entering the public school, is subjected to a careful physical examination by the doctor, who reports whether • medical attention will be needed, or exemption from any part of the school " work is desirable. Every other year ■ throughout the child'e school life it is examined and reported upon again; and-the teachers are encouraged to keep the-medical officers ■Wβ!! informed of the physical condition of their pupils. In Prance, in Switzerland, and, in fact, in all the European countries in which : public education is regarded as a serious public duty, similar methods art being adopted, and in the natural course of events it is necessary that New Zealand should fall into line with the other civilised nations in the prosecution of this good work. There can be no doubt about the value and importance of medical inspection for schools as an accessory to the actual work of intellectual training. The larger problems of the spread of in- ! fectious diseases, or the general condi- [ tions of school hygiene, are -weighty ■ enough in themselves to justify serious public attention. But quite apart from these, the physical condition of mdi*- * vidual pupils has a- most intimate bear- • ing upon their educational capacity. Slight defects in sight and hearing, and abnormal glandular developments, quite unnotieeable except to the expert eye, may interfere to an -almost inconceivable extent with a child's mental growth or • it& ability to deal iwith. -even, the ordi- ':' nary; a primary: v

By medical inspection, weaknesses of ■ tins sort are discovered and indicated * to the teacher; and ■when tiiis is done, I for the first 'Lime there is some reason- i able chance that the nwUmi of eduoa- t tion may be successfully adapted c to the physical and mental require- c menits of individual scholars. The v great difficulty, educationally speak- J ing, of handling; children in the mass, is <: that to save time and money and make c the work of education practicable, our systems must be more or less rigid and inelastic Tie introduction of medical -t inspec±k)irwo«ld certainly help to remedy '< •this defect, at least by bringing com- * stantly under the eyes of teachers and . educational authorities the need for re- ] adjusting oirrgeneral eonceptaons-of mental training to th« necessities of each. , individual child. To carry out a system 1 of medical inspection on an elaborate < and conrppeiwnsive scale would, of course, be an enormously expensive busi- j cess; and, as this little country already « spends over a million 6terlmg a year on 1 education, "we nruet not expect too much in this -way at first. But it can hardly j be contested that any scheme which tends j -\ to promote the general welfare by im- J i proving the public health and by increas- ' ing the efficiency of our educational sya- ? tern is a great public benefit, and we will j therefore -wel-come any attempt to carry ' out the principle of medical inspection 1 in school* on rational and moderate lines. 1