Compared with other large cities, Cleveland has an unusually good
system of medical inspection. Where other cities are still struggling
with details of organization, record keeping, and the like, Cleveland
is ready to lead the way into new and immensely important fields.
Medical inspection includes four fields of endeavor: prevention of
epidemics, discovery and cure of physical defects, provision of
healthful surroundings, and formation of correct habits of thought and
action in regard to health. The first two are concerned with remedying
present conditions, and here Cleveland is doing excellent work. The
latter two provide health insurance for the future. In these,
Cleveland has made a beginning but should carry her efforts far in
advance of anything now attempted.
Thirteen years ago a crusade was started against the common drinking
cup. Today there is not a school in the city which is not supplied
with sanitary drinking fountains, and the common cup is a thing of the
past. Nine years ago individual towels were supplied to children in
certain schools. At the present time individual towels, soap, and hot
water are available in every building. In 1906 the first shower bath
was installed in an elementary school. Now there are 37 buildings so
equipped. The windows in some of the classes for the blind are made of
amber tinted glass. For years there has been agitation in favor of
adjustable seats and desks, and although conditions in certain schools
are still very bad, these are exceptions, and the general seating
provision is in accordance with the laws of hygiene.
[Illustration: Shower baths installed in an old building in a crowded
section.]
But the Division of Medical Inspection must go farther than this. The
physician must join with the psychologist and the educator in
scientific research to determine the conditions best suited to the
education of the child. Shall blackboards be of slate, composition
board, or glass? Shall they be colored black, green, or ivory white?
Is light chalk on a dark ground better or worse than dark chalk on a
light ground? Is prismatic window glass superior to plain? To what
extent is glare from polished desks detrimental to eyesight? How large
must be the type in textbooks in order that young children may easily
read it? What variations from the present school program are necessary
in order to make adequate provision for change in the use of different
sets of muscles, and relief from nerve strain?
These questions and hundreds of others are facing educational
authorities. The method of answering them affects not only the
children of one city but the children of all cities throughout the
country. Everywhere schoolmen are on the alert to gain information
which will help in solving these problems.
In addition to regular work of inspection and examination, the doctors
and nurses of Cleveland spend a great deal of time in conferences with
parents, talks with teachers, lessons and talks to children,
toothbrush drills, and the like. The importance of work of this kind
can hardly be overestimated, but it must be far more than "talks at
people." It should be the aim of the Department of Medical Inspection
to establish right habits in regard to health. For this reason,
although both methods are helpful, drill in the use of the toothbrush
is more effective than lectures on the need of using it. As a result
of the work of doctors and nurses, Cleveland's children,--and her
teachers as well,--should not only believe in plenty of sleep, but
should go to bed early; not only disapprove of too much tea and
coffee, but have strength to refuse when it is offered. Through
classes for the anemic and pre-tubercular, the public schools help
each year between two and three hundred children. This is worth doing,
but they will render a far greater service to Cleveland if, in
addition, they succeed in giving to 80,000 children, so firmly that it
will never be broken, the habit of sleeping winter and summer with
wide open windows.
The dentist, the oculist, the physician, should come to be regarded,
not as dispensers of cures nor sympathetic listeners to
hypochondriacs, but as leaders to whom intelligent people go in order
to forestall trouble,--specialists in health rather than disease.
Leading its future citizens to form right habits of thinking and
acting in regard to health is one of the greatest educational services
which the public school can render.