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Medical
inspection at
secondary
schools, etc.
64
the 12 year old girls. The vision of the 14 year old children is much better, 58.9
per cent. in 14 year old boys as against 57.1 per cent. in the 12 year old group, and 55.1
per cent. of girls as against 52.5 per cent. in the 12 year old group were found with
normal or fully corrected vision, thus showing a further bridging of the differences
between the sexes noticeable at the older ages. No improvement, however, was shown
in heart defect,,anæmia, and deformities, by the older children in comparison with
the twelve year old group, although the marked tendency of the girls to suffer especially
from these conditions was only infinitesimally increased in the last two years.
The decision to abandon the inspection of the fourth age group has caused a
certain amount of difficulty in regard to the filling-in of the school leaving certificates.
It has been decided during the present year to postpone the examination
of the 12 year old group until the latter part of the year, in order to shorten the period
between the last examination of the children and the date of leaving school, while
exceptional cases, in which a final report of the doctor is desirable, will be examined as
special cases immediately before leaving.
1,343 students were inspected at the Training Colleges. Of these 30 were returned
as below normal in nutrition, 99 requiring dental treatment, 19 with defect
of hearing or ear discharge, 35 with abnormality of the circulation, 29 anaemic,
2 with lung trouble and 195 with postural deformity of the spine.
During 1922 the pupils at secondary schools were inspected as a routine
measure at the ages of 12 and 15. 2,362 boys and 2,086 girls were inspected at these
ages, and 1,768 boys and 1,788 girls were in addition seen as special cases, making
8,004 examinations in all. Further, 937 male and 789 female students were inspected
at trade schools maintained or aided by the Council, in all, therefore, 11,073
pupils and students were medically examined in the various types of higher education
institutions. Although a picked class from a medical point of view, numerous
physical defects were found amongst them, 8 per cent. were undernourished, 2 per
cent. deficient in personal hygiene, 25 per cent. suffered from dental decay. Although
16 per cent. wore spectacles, 29 per cent. nevertheless had less than the normal acuity
of vision, 1.7 had ear diseases or hardness of hearing, 4.7 per cent. defect of the
circulation, 3.8 per cent. were anaemic and 11.55 per cent. showed postural deformities.
All these conditions, if unattended to, lead to strain and inefficiency in later life
with consequent waste of the advantages bestowed by higher education. The
importance of physical development and the establishment of perfect bodily health
as a part of educational effort is still not grasped as it should be, and education is
still to some extent overshadowed by the delusion that mens sana and corpus sanum
have no relation one to the other.
The examination of the 12 year old group of children in secondary schools
permits of a comparison of their condition with that of the children of the same age
in elementary schools.
The average nutrition of the secondary school children is superior to that of the
elementary school children on the whole, but the percentage of children definitely
undernourished is, contrary to expectation, rather higher amongst the former. While
5.8 per cent. of boys and 5.2 per cent. of girls in the elementary schools are marked
as undernourished, 7.2 per cent. of boys and 13.7 per cent. of girls in secondary
schools are so marked.
Personal cleanliness is much superior in the secondary schools. 3 per cent. of
the girls are found unsatisfactory in this respect compared with 225 in the
elementary schools.
76.7 per cent. of boys and 71 per cent. of girls in the secondary schools have
sound teeth compared with 65.3 and 67.5 per cent. respectively in elementary
schools. The eyesight of the secondary school children is much superior at the age
of 12 to that of the elementary school children, 72.3 per cent. of girls attaining
normal vision as compared with 52.5 per cent. only in the elementary school girls.
It is noted that 10 per cent. of secondary school boys at 12 are wearing spectacles
and 13.3 per cent. of girls.