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101
The numbers are too small to draw any definite conclusions,
but taken in conjunction with the inquiry made into the question of
underfed children, the figures are significant. At almost all age
periods the children in the South Acton, Priory, Roman Catholic
and Beaumont Park Schools are below the weight of the children in
the other schools of the district.
Last summer 86 children were selected by the teachers in the
schools as being badly nourished. These children were weighed at
intervals, and it was found that 26 of them were below the normal
weight, and had not increased in weight during the 3 months they
were under observation. Out of the 26, in 19 of them poverty was
the probable cause of the malnutrition.
To find out the real state of affairs with regard to the underfeeding
of children attending elementary schools is an almost insoluble
problem. Teachers, as a rule, have a fairly intimate acquaintance
with the home circumstances. Each teacher in his own class has a
good idea, inasmuch as he knows that certain children turn up at
school, either looking pinched and pale, or very neglected. The
child bears in his own person some evidence that the home is not
altogether what it might be. But in dealing with a large number of
children, it is difficult to separate completely the robust from the
delicate, and still more difficult to detect those who are slightly
under-noutished, and whose home conditions upon enquiry are found
to be deplorable.
Poverty probably is the most common cause of the malnutrition
in the children attending the Beaumont Park, Priory, Roman
Catholic and South Acton Schools, but it does not account for all the
cases. Improper and injudicious feeding is common, and though not
restricted to the poorer classes, would seem to be more frequent
among the children attending these schools. Out of the 26 children
mentioned above, in 7 instances the parents were earning good wages
and in constant employment, but in most of the cases the mother
was employed in some work which took her away from her home.
Habitual use of improper food produces every evidence of malnutrition.
Among the social factors peculiar to the district, the occupation
of the parents, which has a bearing direct or indirect upon the
children's health, must be considered.