OUR BOYS AND GIRLS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2570, 3 August 1909, Page 3

OUR BOYS AND GIRLS.

MEDICAL INSPECTION OF ASCHOOL. RATHER SERIOUS DEFECTS. In December last the Wellington Education Board resolved .to have a medical inspection made of . one of the larger schools under its jurisdiction, with a view to ascertaining tho condition of teeth and general health of tho children. The Te Aro School was selected for the inspection, and the examination was made during school hours by two well-known medical men of Wellington. The total number of children examined was 310, of various ages, the average time taken for the examination being about five minutes per pupil. The provisional report, which lias now boon prepared, and was tabled at the last meeting of the Education Boai-d, reads as' follows : —Defective Teeth. —

The most alarming feature of the report is that dealing with the condition of tlio teeth. “Thirty-two out of the total examined,” states tho report, “had very good teeth —14 boys and 18 girls: ‘very good’ meaning almost complete sets, free from decay. This gives a percentage of about 5 for boys and 6 for girls. Forty-eight had very bad teeth, Very bad’ meaning mouths -with many teeth in various stages of decay, and others lost by extraction Tor decay, or only remaining as stumps : in this class there were 80 boys and 18 girls. Oij the remaining 230 the teeth were more or less incomplete, decayed and defective. The faulty condition of the temporary teeth in the younger children was very marked. The teeth of the girls were less defective than those of the hoys, corresponding with the results obtained at the State schools in Tasmania. In the New South Wales schools tho reverse is reported to he the case. It seemed clear, from the examination, that the girls between 10 and .14 years of age used tooth brushes more-frequently than the boys of corresponding ages. The evidence, however, of the regular and thorough use of the tooth brush was pretty weak all along the line of both sexes at all stages. ' —Throats and Noses: Condition . Serious. —

“Of 152 girls examined, 50 had their throats, etc in a perfectly normal condition, i.e. s had no enlarged tonsils, no evidence of adenoids, no catarrh. Sixty had enlarged tonsils, 18 being undoubtedly morbidly so, and requiring treatment. Twenty-two had a catarrhal condition of the back of the throat (chronic pharyngitis), Twenty had marked evidence of nasal obstruction from adenoids requiring treatment. “Of 149 boys, 69 had normal throats, 53 enlarged tonsils (14 requiring treatment), 12 catarrhal condition of the pharynx, and 13 marked nasal obstruction from adenoids, requiring treat-' ment.

“It will bo seen that 113 out of the 310. examined had enlarged tonsils. This is a serious matter, as there can bo no doubt a large percentage of these had, in addition, adenoids. Some authorities hold that all children with enlarged tonsils have adenoids also. The average percentage of children with adenoids in the Hobart State schools was over 30, girls contributing more cases than hoys. In New South Wales Dr Harris reports that, during, the quarter ending December, 1908, he visited five schools, comprising some 3000 •children, and found 513 cases of enlarged tonsils and adenoids. Adenoid vegetations lead to a series of symptoms; they interfere with nasal respirations and produce mouth-breath-

ihg only; they interfere with the voice, muffling the nasal sounds; they causo deafness; they cause earache; they" cause dullness of intellect and irritability of .temper; they predispose to ordinary colds, to sore throats and, to bronchitis. They cause diphtheria, scarlet fever, measles, and whooping cough to assume a more severe type' in children. They interfere with the general health and , development of children.

“Dr Elkington, Chief Health Officer of Tasmania, says, in his 1906 report: ‘A child with marked adenoid disease is practically useless for educational purposes. In tho hands of a teacher unacquainted with the condition, he is almost inevitably doomed to a reputation for stupidity, and passes out of school life branded as a dullard and an educational bad bargain.’ —Hearing.—

“Of the total examined, the hearing was defective in 25 cases—l 4 boys and ii girls. In most cases the defect was confined to oue ear, and the impairment only moderate. In 4 cases one ear was completely deaf, and in 2 cases both ears were badly defective. The deafness in these cases was independent of the deafness caused by adenoids and enlarged tonsils. In 6 cases it was one to the impaction of wax in the outer ear; in 3 to ear discharge, the aftereffect of measles. —Vision.— ,

“A report on the vision of the children will be presented later. Of 50 eases personally tested by one of the medical men, only 2 presented evidence of uncorrected short sight • (myopia), and those only to a moderate degree.

—General Health.—

“Commenting on the general health of the pupils, it is stated that, on the whole, with tho exceptions above noted this appeared to be good. Of the 152 girls examined, 13 were marked off as cases of anaemia, 3 of suspected spinal curvature, 1 of granular ophthalmia (“trachoma” —a contagious condition of the eyelids); there were no evidences of skin disease. . General ill-health was indicated in the appearance of 10 of the pupils. “Of the 149 boys, 2 had granulated ophthalmia, 2 contagions affection of the skin (impetigo.) In 11, there was an appearance indicating general illicalth.

—Physical Development.—

“No measurements, with regard to physical development were taken, except the heights. Tho average of these for both sexes at different ages, gave results remarkably similar to those obtained by Dr Elkington, who reported on the Hobart schools in 1906. Under the beading of ‘physical development’ 70 boys are marked off as being either ‘very good’ or ‘good,’ 49 as ‘moderate,’ and 30 as ‘bad.’ Many of the ‘bad’ having badly-developed and flat chests. Amongst the girls the ‘vexy goods’ exceeded the boys; the ‘moderates’- numbered 40, and only 20 were marked off as ‘bad.’ —Sixteen Per Cent. Seriously Defective.—-

“It will be seeix from that there existed at the To AFe State School, Wellington, in December last, out of 210 boys and girls of all ages, at least 50, or 16A per cent., whose physical condition interfered with their taking full advantage of the education afforded. Further, it may be added that both parents raid teachers were probably ignorant- of this physical condition. On the general question of medical inspection of State schools, tho examiners do not deem it necessary to enlai'ge. Its objects,, and the excellent results obtained in other countries whore it is adopted and acted on are, it is assumed, well known to the board. Health, bodily and mental, is essential to education. If the condition of the health of school children cannot be* ascertained b3 r any other means than by" medical inspection, then such inspection is obviously demanded.”