The Health bulletin [serial] - University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

20 The Health Bulletin June, 1927
public health problems ; because after
all they concern the citizenship of our
whole State.
As workers in the field you are aware
of the fact that many of our people
are profoundly ignorant of the rudiments
of personal hygiene and disease
prevention. This is not only true of
the adult population, but thousands of
children, especially in our rural schools,
either have little more than a primitive
conception of personal hygiene or else
do not put their knowledge into practice.
As evidence of this fact : go into any
average rural school, and ask the children
if they have handkerchiefs or
tooth brushes ; ask how many of them
brush their teeth each day, how often
they take a bath, and whether they
wash their hands before eating. Also
observe tlieir lack of personal cleanliness,
their manner of drinking from
the mouth of the pump, and note the
condition of the school privies.
The children are not to blame, they
are following the precept and example
of their parents. Since many of the
parents are incapable of teaching their
children the habits of personal hygiene
the next logical person to do it is the
school teacher, as the child spends a
great part of his life in the school
room during the formative period when
health habits are easily acquired. These
lessons must be drilled into them constantly
day after day, and who else
can do this but the teacher, when the
parents fail The public health nurse
and the health officer may help some
but if the teachers' environment and
training have not given them an ai>
preciation of the value and importance
of personal hygiene the task is almost
hopeless. For this reason this Association
should use its influence to bring
about legislation requiring the establishing
of a public health course in
all teacher training schools, and the
demonstration of such knowledge on
the part of all teachers as a prerequisite
to certification.
Teacher Training In Colleges
Needed
Our law governing the physical examination
of school children in North
Carolina is all right as far as it goes,
but it does not go far enough. To any
one familiar with this work in our
rural schools it is obvious that the
law is to a lai'ge extent nullified by
the fact that the teachers have not
been trained in the work, and few of
them can do it efficiently. Any process
usually seems uninteresting and difficult
to people who do not understand
it, and the teachers as a whole are no
exception to this rule.
My experience with rural teachers
has convinced me that most of them
know very little about the usual physical
defects of school children, and even
less about contagious diseases. The information
furnished the teachers
through the teachers manual, the contagious
disease guides and bulletins has
been made as simple and practical as
possible ; but we must remember that
this is a new subject to the majority
of the teachers.
The State having placed the responsibility
of physical examinations and
health instruction in the school on the
teachers, it seems only fair that they
be required to prepare themselves to
discharge this obligation efficiently. The
State of Virginia in 1920 ratified an
act, requiring that all teachers in the
State should by 1925 have a course
"including preventive medicine, physical
inspection, health instruction and
physical training," to prepare them for
health work in the schools by giving
them a practical knowledge of the
causes, the corrections, and the prevention
of hindrances to the best mental
and physical development of children.
The responsibility for carrying
out the provisions of this law was
placed upon the State Board of Health,
and the State Board of Education. A
special course of study was promulgated
by the State Board of Health
and State Board of Education jointly,
and made one of the requirements for
certification in all teacher training institutions
of the State, and for the renewal
of certificates of teachers already
in the service. To meet the needs of
the teachers, who could not attend such
schools or colleges a correspondence
course was offered by the State Board
of Health. The special course of study
comprises the following subjects : physical
defects and their control, communicable
disease and their control,