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

Odohei; 1927 The Health Bulletin 9
vision are somewhat more numerous today
among children than existed ten
years ago. The reasons for this may be*
said to be obvious. For example, the
material increase in enrollment in the
schools, the increase in the length of
school term, the enlargement of the
curriculum to take in more studies, the
increased circulation of books and
magazines and newspaijers, and probably
more than all, the increased attendance
on moving picture shows. All
of these things tend toward eye strain
in young children. Throat defects and
latent tubercular tendencies are possibly
present to about the same extent
as ten years ago.
An interesting study was completed
sometime ago of an east side school
in New York City, of a total of two
thousand boys, resulting in some exact
information. The group of boys selected
for study were past fourteen and under
seventeen years of age. None of them
i
bad completed the eighth grade in
school. The boys were all employed,
but were required to attend school at
least one morning or afternoon each
week. All of these boys had work at
different occupations. The examinations
were made under the direction of the
New York Tuberculosis and Health Association.
Of the two thousand boys examined
only two hundred and twentyfive
boys were pronounced physically
normal for the age. The examination
extended over a period of eleven weeks.
Four physicians did the examining and
a special assistant carefully recorded
all of the histories. Nearly a fourth
of the boys had one or more reexaminations
made. The New York Tuberculosis
and Health Association direct-
. ing this work made the survey under
the New York City Department of
Labor. The examination was specific
and definite and a specific diagnosis
was requested concerning each defect
located. The boys examined were
nearly all of foreign birth or foreign
extraction. Twenty-seven nationalities
were represented, and in one group of
two hundred and twenty boys given
special consideration on account of
particular occupations the boys were
engaged in, it was found that they
represented fifty-five different occupations.
Some of the boys were considerably
overweight, but by far the
larger percentage was underweight.
More than one-fourth of them had impaired
vision, and sixty of them were
found to be suffering from diseases
of the eye in addition to refractive
errors. Only four boys had impaired
hearing, but there were sixty-seven
cases of diseases of the ear found.
Forty-five per cent of the boys were
found to have decayed teeth to a sufiicient
extent to demand dental service.
About fifteen per cent of them had
various disorders of the heart. More
than half of them were found to have
diseased tonsils.
The writer of the report, as published
in the United .S7a/es Daily, "believes
that such facts show the need for
more extensive and detailed instruction
of the school child in the elements of
personal hygiene and for strict supervision
of his physical development and
that when the child leaves home and
goes to work there should be consideration
in the issuance of his work papers
not of his age alone, but also of his
physical condition and of the probable
tax upon his
strength."
CONSOLIDATED SCHOOLS
The fact that schools are being consolidated
in the State of North Carolina
with such rapidity means that the
transjtortation of school children assumes
a much more important aspect
than heretofore.
During the school year 1926-27 the
State's school system operated nearly
twenty-five hundred busses which
hauled almost one hundred thousand
school children to and from school each
day. The school ofiicials, of course,
exercise the best judgment they cen in
selecting the drivers for the busses
which haul these children, and accidents
have been remarkably few. At
the same time it is well for everybody
concerned to realize fully the responsibility
such a large enterprise entails.
There is a State law, according to
the Attorney-General of North Carolina,
which specifically provides that motor-