IS YOUR SCHOOL MANUFACTURING PHYSICAL DEFECTS?
Last year a conference on the physical welfare of school children was
told by a woman principal: "Of course we need physicians to examine our
children and to teach the parents, but many of us principals believe
that our school curriculum and our school environment manufacture more
physical defects in a month than all your physicians and nurses will
correct in a year." At the same meeting the physical director of
schools of New York City appealed eloquently for "biological engineers"
at school, who would test the child's strength as building engineers
are employed to test the strength of beams and foundations.[8] As
explanation for the need of the then recently organized National School
Hygiene Association, he elaborated the proposition that school
requirements and school environment damage child health. "Ocular
defects are in direct ratio to the length of time the pupil has
attended school.... A desk that is too high may easily be the indirect
agent for causing scoliosis, producing myopia or astigmatism....
Physically examine school children by all means, but do not fail to
examine school desks."
Fifty schools in different parts of New York City were examined last
year with especial reference to the factors likely to cause or to
aggravate physical defects.[9] The results, tabulated and analyzed,
prove that the woman principal was right; many schools are so built or
so conducted, many school courses are so devised or so executed, that
children are inevitably injured by the environment in which the
compulsory education law forces them to spend their formative years.
[Illustration: ONE OF NEW YORK CITY'S ROOF PLAYGROUNDS]
Recently I noticed that our little office girl, so anæmic and nervous
when she left school that we hesitated to employ her, was becoming rosy
and spirited. The child herself explained the change: "I like it
better. I have more money to spend. I get more outdoor exercise, and
then, oh, the room is so much sunnier and there is more air and the
people are all so nice!" And these were just the necessities which were
lacking in the school from which she came. Moreover, it is a fair
commentary on the school work and the school hygiene in too many of our
towns and cities to-day. "I like it better" means that school work is
not adapted to the dominant interests of the child, that the curriculum
includes subjects remote from the needs and ambitions of the modern
school child, and fails to include certain other subjects which it
recognizes as useful and necessary, and therefore finds interesting.
"I have more money to spend" means that this little girl was able to
have certain things, like a warm, pretty dress, rubbers, or an
occasional trolley ride, which she longed for and needed. "I get more
outdoor exercise" means that there was no open-air playground for her
school, that "setting up" exercises were forgotten, that recess was
taken up in rushing home, eating lunch, and rushing back again, and
that "after school" was filled up with "helping mother with the
housework." "The office is so much sunnier and I get more air" accounts
for the increase in vitality; and "the people are all so nice," for the
happy expression and initiative which the undiscriminating discipline
at school had crushed out.
[Illustration: BONE TUBERCULOSIS IS ONE OF THE PENALTIES FOR DRY
SWEEPING AND FEATHER DUSTERS]
For such unsanitary conditions crowded sections of great cities have no
apologies to make to rural districts. A wealthy suburb recently learned
that there was overcrowding in every class room, and that one school
building was so unsanitary as to be a menace to the community.
Unadjustable desks, dry sweeping, feather dusters, shiny blackboards,
harassing discipline that wrecks nerves, excessive home study and
subjects that bore, are not peculiar to great cities. In a little
western town a competition between two self-governing brigades for
merit points was determined by the amount of home study; looking back
fifteen years, I can see that I was encouraging anæmic and
overambitious children to rob themselves of play, sleep, and vitality.
Many a rural school violates with impunity more laws of health than
city factories are now permitted to transgress.
After child labor is stopped, national and state child labor committees
will learn that their real interest all the time has been child
welfare, not child age, and will be able to use much of the old
literature, simply substituting for "factory" the word "school" when
condemning "hazardous occupations likely to sap [children's] nervous
energy, stunt their physical growth, blight their minds, destroy their
moral fiber, and fit them for the moral scrap heap."
Many of the evils of school environment the teacher can avert, others
the school trustee should be expected to correct. So far as unsanitary
conditions are permitted, the school accentuates home evils, whereas it
should counteract them by instilling proper health habits that will be
taken home and practiced. Questions such as were asked in Miss North's
study will prove serviceable to any one desiring to know the probable
effect of a particular school environment upon children subject to it.
Especially should principals, superintendents, directors, and volunteer
committeemen apply such tests to the public, parochial, or private
school, orphanage or reformatory for which they may be responsible.
I. NEIGHBORHOOD HEALTH RESOURCES
1. Is the district congested?
2. Is congestion growing?
3. How far away is the nearest public park?
a. Is it large enough?
b. Has it a playground or beauty spot?
c. Has it swings and games?
d. Is play supervised?
e. Have children of different ages equal opportunities, or do
the large children monopolize the ground?
f. Are children encouraged by teachers and parents to use this
park?
4. Are the streets suitable for play?
a. Does the sun reach them?
b. Are they broad?
c. Are they crowded with traffic?
5. How far away is the nearest public bath?
a. Has it a swimming pool?
b. Has it showers?
c. Is it used as an annex to the school?
[Illustration: VACATION-SCHOOL PLAY CLINIC ON A "VACANT" CITY
LOT OWNED BY THE ROCKEFELLER INSTITUTE FOR MEDICAL RESEARCH]
II. EFFECT OF SCHOOL EQUIPMENT UPON HEALTH
1. Is there an indoor yard?
a. Is the area adequate or inadequate?
b. Is the floor wood, cement, or dirt?
c. Is the heat adequate or deficient?
d. Is the ventilation adequate or deficient?
e. Is the daylight adequate, deficient, or almost lacking?
f. Is there equipment for light gymnastics and games?
g. Is it used out of school hours; by special classes, athletic
teams, etc., or by pupils generally?
2. Is there an outdoor yard?
a. Is the area ample or inadequate?
b. Is the area mainly occupied by toilets?
c. Is the daylight sufficient or deficient?
d. For how many hours does the sun reach it?
e. Is it equipped for games?
f. How much larger ought it to be?
g. Is it used out of school hours; by special classes, athletic
teams, etc., or by pupils generally?
3. Is there a gymnasium?
a. Is it large enough?
b. Is it used for a gymnasium?
c. Is it cut up into class rooms?
d. Is it used out of school hours; by special classes, athletic
teams, etc., or by pupils generally?
4. Is there a roof playground?
a. Is there open ventilation?
b. Is it used in the daytime?
c. Is it used at night?
d. Is it used during the summer?
e. Is it monopolized by the larger children?
f. Is it used out of school hours; by special classes, athletic
teams, etc., or by pupils generally?
5. Are washing facilities adequate?
a. How many pupils per washbasin?
b. Are there individual towels?
c. Have eye troubles been spread by roller towels?
d. Are only clean towels permitted?
e. Are there bathing facilities; are these adequate?
f. Are swimming pools used for games, contests, etc.?
g. Are bathing facilities used out of school hours?
h. Who is responsible for cleanliness of towels, washbasins, and
swimming pools?
i. How often is water changed in swimming pool, or is it
constantly changing?
6. Is adequate provision made for clean drinking water?
a. Are sanitary fountains used that prevent contamination of
faucet or water?
b. How often are cups or faucets cleaned?
7. Is provision made for airing outer clothing?
a. Are children permitted to pile their clothing in the class
room?
b. Are there hooks for each child?
c. Are lockers provided with wire netting to permit
ventilation?
d. Are lockers or hooks in the halls or in the basement?
e. Have you ever thought of the disciplinary and social value of
cheap coat hangers to prevent wrinkling and tearing?
[Illustration: AN ATTEMPT TO OVERCOME THE DISADVANTAGES OF
CONGESTION--A BOYS' HIGH SCHOOL, NEW YORK CITY]
III. THE CLASS ROOM AS A PLACE OF CONFINEMENT
1. How many sittings are provided?
a. How many pupils are there?
2. What is the total floor area?
a. What proportion is not occupied by desks?
3. Are the seats adjustable?
a. Are the seats adjusted to pupils?
b. Where desks are adjustable, are short children seated in low
desks, or are children seated according to class or according
to discipline exigencies without regard to size of desk?
c. Are seats placed properly with reference to light?
4. Is the light ample and proper?
a. For how many hours must artificial light be used in the
daytime?
b. Is artificial light adequate for night work?
c. Does the reflection of light from blackboard and walls injure
the eye?
d. Are the blackboards black enough?
e. Are the walls too dark?
f. Is the woodwork too dark?
g. Are window panes kept clean?
5. Is the air always fresh?
a. Is ventilation by open windows?
b. Is ventilation artificial?
c. Does the ventilating apparatus work satisfactorily?
d. Are the windows thrown open during recess, and after and
before school?
e. Do unclean clothes vitiate the atmosphere?
f. Do unclean persons vitiate the atmosphere?
g. Does bad breath vitiate the atmosphere?
h. Are pupils and parents taught that unclean clothes, unclean
persons, and bad breath may decrease the benefits of
otherwise adequate ventilation and seriously aggravate the
evils of inadequate ventilation?
6. Is the temperature properly regulated?
a. Has every class room a thermometer?
b. Are teachers required to record the thermometer's story
three or more times daily?
c. Is excess or deficiency at once reported to the janitor?
7. Are the floors, walls, desks, and windows always clean?
a. How often are they washed?
b. Is twice a year often enough?
c. Do the floors and walls contain the dust of years?
d. Is dry sweeping prohibited?
e. Has wet sawdust or even wet sand been tried?
f. Has oil ever been used to keep down surface dust on floors?
g. Are feather dusters prohibited?
h. Are dust rags moist or dry?
i. Is an odorless disinfectant used?
8. Does overheating prevail?
a. Do you know teachers and principals who protest against
insufficient ventilation, particularly against mechanical
ventilation, while they themselves are "in heavy winter
clothing in a small room closely sealed, the thermometer at
80 degrees"?
IV. EXERCISE AND RECREATION
1. How much time and at what periods is exercise provided for in the
school schedule?
a. Indoors?
b. Outdoors?
2. How much exercise indoors and outdoors is actually given?
3. Are the windows open during exercise?
4. Is exercise suited to each child by the school physician after
physical examination, or are all children compelled to take the
same exercise?
5. Whose business is it to see that rules regarding exercise are
strictly enforced?
6. Do clouds of dust rise from the floor during exercise and play?
7. Are children deprived of exercise as a penalty?
8. Should hygiene talks be considered as exercise?
[Illustration: HOME WORKSHOPS NEED FRESH AIR]
V. THE SCHOOL JANITOR AND CLEANERS
1. Do they understand the relation of cleanliness to vitality?
2. Is their aim to do the least possible amount of work, or to attain
the highest possible standard of cleanliness?
3. Will the teacher's complaint of uncleanliness be heeded by
trustees? If so, is the teacher not responsible for uncleanliness?
4. Have you ever tried to stimulate the pride of janitors and
cleaners for social service?
a. Have you ever tried to show them how much work they save
themselves by thorough cleansing?
b. Have you ever shown them the danger, to their own health, of
dust and dirt that may harbor infection and reduce their own
vitality?
5. What effort is made to instruct janitors and cleaners by your
school trustees or by your community?
6. Have you explained to pupils the important responsibility of
janitors for the health of those in the tenements, office
buildings, or schools?
a. Do you see in this an opportunity to emphasize indirectly
the mother's responsibility for cleanliness of home?
[Illustration: SCHOOL WORKSHOPS ALSO NEED FRESH AIR]
VI. REQUIREMENTS OF CURRICULUM
1. How much home study is there?
a. How much is required?
b. What steps are taken to prevent excessive home study?
c. Are light and ventilation conditions at home considered when
deciding upon amount of home study?
2. Is the child fitted to the curriculum, or is the curriculum
fitted to the child?
a. Does failure or backwardness in studies lead to additional
study hours or to regrading?
b. Are there too many subjects?
c. Are the recitation periods too long?
d. Are the exercise periods too short and too few?
e. Is there too much close-range work?
f. Is it possible to give individual attention to individual
needs so as to awaken individual interest?
3. Is follow-up work organized to enlist interest of parents, or, if
necessary, of outside agencies in fitting a child to do that for
which, if normal, he would be physically adapted?
By reducing the harm done by old buildings and by the traditions of
curriculum and discipline, teachers can do a great deal. Perhaps they
cannot move the windows or the desks, but they can move the children.
If they cannot insure sanitary conditions for home study, they can cut
down the home study. If the directors do not provide proper
blackboards, they can do less blackboard work. They can make children
as conscious, as afraid, and as resentful of dirty air as of dirty
teeth. They can make janitors believe that "dry sweeping" or "feather
dusting" may give them consumption, and leave most of the dirt in the
room to make work for the next day; that adjustable desks are made to
fit the child's legs and back, not the monkey wrench; that the
thermometer in the schoolroom is a safer guide to heat needed than a
boiler gauge in the basement; that fresh air heated by coal is cheaper
for the school fund than stale air heated by bodies and by bad breath.
Finally, they can make known to pupils, to parents, to principals and
superintendents, to health officials and to the public, the extent to
which school environment violates the precepts of school hygiene.
If the state requires the attendance of all children between the ages
of five and fourteen at school for five hours a day, for five days in
the week, for ten months in the year, then it should undertake to see
that the machinery it provides for the education of those children for
the greater part of the time for nine years of their lives--the
formative years of their lives--is neither injuring their health nor
retarding their full development.
If the amount of "close-range" work is rapidly manufacturing myopic
eyes; if bad ventilation, whether due to faulty construction or to
faulty management, is preparing soil for the tubercle bacillus; if
children with contagious diseases are not found and segregated; if
desks are so ill adapted to children's sizes and physical needs that
they are forming crooked spines; if too many children are crowded into
one room; if lack of air and light is producing strained eyes and
malnutrition; if neither open air, space, nor time is provided for
exercise, games, and physical training; if school discipline is adapted
neither to the psychology nor the physiology of child or teacher, then
the state is depriving the child of a greater right than the compulsory
education law forces it to endure. Not only is the right to health
sacrificed to the right to education, but education and health are both
sacrificed.
In undertaking to enforce the compulsory education law, to put all
truants and child laborers in school, the state should be very sure for
its own sake that it is not depriving the child of the health on which
depends his future usefulness to the state as well as to himself.
TABLE XI
EFFECTS OF A CHILD LABOR LAW
Increase in Chicago Attendance
Grades 4-9
######## 1901-1902
############# 1902-1903
###################################################### 1903-1904
Grades 9-15
####################### 1901-1902
#################### 1902-1903
###################################################### 1903-1904
FOOTNOTES:
[8] _The Sanitation of Public Buildings_, by William Paul Gerhard,
contains a valuable discussion of how the school may avoid manufacturing
physical defects.
[9] By Professor Lila V. North, Baltimore College for Women, for the New
York Committee on the Physical Welfare of School Children, 105 East 22d
Street, New York City.