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(c) Regular daily physical training is a material factor in
preventing deformities such as that noted in the previous
paragraph, as well as other defects. In this connection it is to be
noted that there are a considerable number of school departments
—although a minority of the whole—in which there is no provision
for a short daily period of physical exercises. While this can never
replace organised games, the latter in their turn do not fully make
up for the lack of daily exercises.
In regard to conditions arising during school life affecting the
mental health of the school child, I wish to refer in particular to
two: —
(a) Insufficient Sleep.— I have no doubt that under the conditions
of aggregation in the poorer homes there are a considerable
number of children who are suffering from the effects of insufficient
sleep. Even a slight deficiency in this respect must produce
stunting of physical and of mental development, creating a sense
of strain which must have far-reaching effects on the child's
character. The remedy is not primarily in the hands of the
Education Authority. Teachers do much, and could possibly do
even more, to draw the attention of individual parents to this
danger, in particular at times when it appears to be affecting their
children in particular.
(b) The Influence of the Cinema.—The influence of the cinema
is perhaps rather a remote one to be discussed in a school medical
report; yet there seems no other official channel for drawing the
attention of the Education Authority to a factor which is far from
trivial in the way in which it may accentuate or even negative much
of the work of character-formation towards which the educational
system is directed. It is important to recognise that the cinema
film, by the circumstances under which it is displayed, is capable
of a dual effect—on the conscious mind, and also on the subconscious
mind. The effect on the child's conscious mind is
generally recognised. I am anxious to emphasise the relation of
the cinema to the sub-conscious mind by reason of its bearing on
the child's character. All the circumstances under which an
exciting film is seen—the darkness; the quiet; the sense of expectancy
among a crowd intent on the same object; the concentration
of the one active sense, sight, on a very bright clearly defined patch
of flickering light—all favour an actual hypnotic condition, particularly
in the sensitive introspective type of child, who with careful
supervision may become a most useful type of future citizen. Bv
hypnosis, the suggestion, or the fear, conveyed by the film, passes
below the consciousness to affect the sub-conscious stratum of the