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Evening Star, Issue 12868, 18 July 1906, Page 4

Thb teachers of Otago are greatly indebted

to the medical profession for The Health of the part its members have Sehoel ChiUJfcm. <a l waYS taken in education. At all timps there are doctots who take a keen interest in educationAl Matters, and there are always medical men connected (directly or indirectly) with some one of our scholastic institutions. This is well, for the bodily health of the children is as important as their intellectual progress, if not more important. No fewer than three addresses were given last week by ilctstors—Df i&lcohVs address oil i tfatigrte,' which proved both interesfcinir and attrac-

Hvo; th.o ad4iresb of Br Mason, CSM Health Officer for the Colony; cm 'Tie Health of Children'; and Dr Tritby King's address on "Ehe TAsacher as a Creative Agent.' Wi& Dr King's adores we shall deal in another issue. The object of Dr Mason's address waa to call public attention to the necessity for provision 'being made for the better preservation, of our children's healta, and to gfyj teachers some idea of the work that might be done by them in this direction with the very Ettk expenditure of time and energy, and to suggest methods whereby at inconsiderable expense many of the fflg that flesh is heir to may be prevented, if only proper precautions are taken during the period of school life, ft is well kndwn to teachers that there are a proportion of children in the schools who should have medical attention. Some children have weak eyesight, others are dull of hearing, some have weak throats, others have defective teeth, and various other aAiients are [Occasionally noticed. Much unnecessary suffering & undergone by children, frequently from want of knowledge of what is wrong or even through want of knowledge that anything at all is wrong. Now, Dr Mason has propounded a scheme whereby children suffering hi any noticeable manner should have the attention of tfveir parents drawn to their ailment, and means taken to deal with it As tlio number of children so affected would only be a small percentage of the whole, he considers that the cost of dealing with them would not be great, and be is of opinion that the Government would bear their share iri the necessary expense. Much of the duty of noting, the obviously unfit could be done by teachers from time to time, and if the work were .toco undertaken, it would become less onerous after the noting process had been carried out regularly for a few years. The teachers present on the occasion were evidently in full accord with the suggestions of the Colony' 3 principal Health Officer; and we feel sure that the members of the'teaching profession throughout the Colony will be found only too willing to do all in their power to assist in carrying out the scheme outlined by Dr Mason, provided that facilities are given them for doing so. This is an onward movement in education with which everyone must have the fullest .sympathy i more especially ;is it is in consonance with tbe latest ideas as to the importance of seeing that the children have the fullest opportunity of proper physical development as well as of intellectual development. It is. every day becoming clearer that in order to make the best of the livesgiven in charge of the .-oinmnnity the physical welfare of the children must be a, subject of as much thought and care as their mental culture, and that such physical welfare is a necessary condition precedent to the obtaining of the best results in the realm of mind. We are at last beginning to see that the pale, quiet, bc-spectacled student is not the ideal citizen the State has to pro. duce, but .that the sturdy, healthy, lively, bright-eyed youth, brimming over with life and vigor; is* a much more desirable ideal, even if lie know "little Latin and less Greek," and perhaps have not even a nodfling acquaintance wrih the differential calculus. In the discussion that followed Dr Mason's address a valuable suggestion was thrown out by Dr Ogston, District Health Officer, that data should be tabulated by the teachers on uniform lists issued by the educational authorities, and that these lists should be sent to the Government to be arranged and classified. The information thtid gained would be very valuable, and would become more instructive year by year, as more data became available for comparison. Wd hope that the suggestion will be acted upon.'