SICKLY SCHOLARS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XLVII, Issue 4406, 25 November 1916, Page 2

SICKLY SCHOLARS.

Sir George Newman, the Clnel Medical Officer of the English Board of Education, lias under his care the health, of the 6,000,000 children in the elementary schools of England and Wales, and for the eighth year in succession he has an appalling tale to tell of the physical condition of over one million of these children. In his annual import he says:— “Eight years’ work has brought to light a large mass of physical defects and disease, varied in character, _ and widespread—most of it preventable- 1 ' Then he gives those startling figures a K to the physical condition of too large a proportion of the children of the workers —the future citizens of Britain. “No less than a quarter of a million children of school age are seriously crippled, invalided, or disabled; not less than a million children of school age are so physically or mentally defective or diseased as to be enable to derive reasonable benefit from the education which the State provides.. J.f tlii s total figure be considered merely from a financial point of view, and quite apart from the suffering, disease and premature death entailed, it will be seen that the State is not getting adequate return, on physical grounds alone, for a substantial part of its expenditure on elementary education. “If we are determined to rear a healthy and virile race of high capacity we must, from a physical standpoint, begin earlier and continue later than the hitherto accepted period or education. What is needed, indeed, is an effective supervision and a sound and practical training of the body from the end of infancy to adolescence It is said sometimes that, in tbe interests of economy, the State cannot afford such a complete scheme. My submission is that, m the interests of economy, the State cannot affort to neglect a complete scheme/’