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168
of secondary school children, it provides no facilities for the treatment
of ascertained defects. The child of more than average ability
is therefore penalised from a health service point of view owing to
the fact that he has gained admission to a County High School.
The secondary school child who conscientiously performs all
his allotted homework belongs to one of the overworked sedentary
occupations. Although Education Authorities have some control
over the general hygienic conditions in schools, e.g., lighting,
ventilation, etc., they do not concern themselves with the conditions
in which the children have to work for two or three hours every
night at home. Unfortunately these conditions are often so unsatisfactory
as to impose a considerable strain on the health of the
children ; and it is in the case of such children, debilitated by the
lack of fresh air and exercise, that the correction of existing defects
is of great importance. In after life a child may suffer no inconvenience
whatever by the loss of much of the knowledge he has
acquired in the classroom, but the loss of his teeth or his health
will assuredly prove a handicap to him all through life. It should
be recogniscd that the price of scholastic success is too great if it is
bought at the expense of health.
Dental Defects and their Treatment.
Of 11,367 children in Leyton elementary schools subjected to
routine dental inspection during 1935, some 7,952 (69.95 per cent.)
were found to require dental treatment ; and there is no evidence
to show that children of more than average ability are less prone
than their school-fellows to develop dental caries. In Leyton County
Secondary schools, however, there is no organised provision either
for routine dental inspection or for dental treatment. In some cases
parents are both able and willing to arrange for the regular care of
their children's teeth by private dental practitioners ; but there
arc many parents who allow the condition of their children's teeth
to deteriorate merely because of the lack of provision by the County
Council of the dental facilities to which their children had become
accustomed while they attended Leyton Elementary Schools.
EMPLOYMENT OF CHILDREN
and
STREET TRADING BY YOUNG PERSONS.
In August, 1931, the Bye-laws made by the Lsyton Local
Education Authority pursuant to the provisions of the Employment
of Children Act, 1903, as amended by the Education Act, 1921,