MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLII, Issue 92, 18 April 1908, Page 5

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS.

THE GERMAN SYSTEM EXPLAINED. HOW THE TEACHER CAN HELP. Referring to the question of, medical inspection of schools, Mr. Hogben, Inspector-General of New Zealand Schools, gave an interesting account to the teachers on Thursday' of what ho had seen on his recent travels in the Old World. Medical inspection was a burning question in Germany.. At Frankfort he visited two schools whose turn it was to have medical inspection that day. The system could easily be applied in New Zealand, except for the accommodation. At one of the Frank-' fort schools there were two rooms for the purpose, one fitted up like a doctor's study, and the other like an operating-room. Each child had a •card, containing eleven or twelve headings. In Scotland they had something like one hundred headings, but such an idea was not practicable for school inspection. In Germany three of the twelve headings were filled up. by the teacher- and the remainder by the doctor. The three were name, address, and height. The r.medical officer did not "treat" 3 the) children, except in cases of poverty —the inspection in no way interfered i with private practice. Dr. Ludd, a j health officer of long experience, said he thought it was a good thing for j the teacher to make preliminary observation of the eyes and hearings j The Inspector-General indicated how] simple tests could be carried out. A few rough entries on the card by the teacher served two good purposes. They helped the doctor in his work of inspection, and they made the teachers, acquainted with scholars I having defects serious enough to affect them in their studies. Teachers had sometimes put children down as stupid and even dishonest when they had only been trying to find from their class neighbours what was on the blackboard or what had heen said by the teacher. Everyone present must have had such experiences .of pupils with defective organs of the senses. He hoped that a plan of medical inspection would be adopted in New- Zealand, and that it would be a very, simple one. In this connection Mr Hogben remarked upon the comparative healthiness of New Zealand children. One had only to visit the schools of Glasgow, New York and London to learn the difference.