76 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



1922-23. We Iiave again secured the co-operation of the Lansing Board 

 of Health and of the school authorities of Lansing and of East Lansing, 

 so that special classes for under-nourished children have been made a 

 part of the regular curriculum. Classes were held in the upper grade 

 rooms of the two fresh air schools, Townsend Street and East Park, 

 and for special groups in the Cedar Street School in Lansing and the 

 Central and Liberty Hyde Bailey Schools in East Lansing. 



The method of conducting tliis work has differed in certain details 

 from that of last year in that it has been intensive rather than extensive. 

 The number of children reached has been less (about one hundred), but 

 each child has received individual attention, including home visits by the 

 college students. A serious effort has been made to obtain co-operation 

 with the home, emjDhasis being placed on the development of good health 

 habits rather than upon gains in weight alone, since we are of the opinion 

 that a knowledge of the fundamental requirements for food, rest and exer- 

 cise, is of more permanent benefit than gains in weight which may be 

 temporary. 



Our results do show gratifying gains in weight, as is brought out in 

 the table quoted on the next page. Certain specific cases, of course, show 

 gains far in excess of the average, such as Doris E. and Virginia G. at 

 the Townsend Street School, who gained thirteen and fourteen pounds 

 respectively, and three boys and one girl at other schools, who have 

 gained ten pounds each in a period of seven months, the normal rate 

 of gain being three and one-half pounds for this length of time. 



TABLE, 



Children enrolled at beginning of year 105 



Children enrolled at end of year ^2 



Percentage of normal gain 



Cedar Street 107.0 



East Lansing 105 . 



Townsend 156 . 



East Park 157.0 



Average 131 . 



Other results, even more important, are not easily shown, since statis- 

 tics for changes in food habits are practically impossible to obtain. The 

 following are illustrative of such results, which occurred in a majority 

 of cases - 



Milton J., son of a Greek restaurant keeper, at the beginning of the 

 term ate irregularly and lived almost entirely on "weiners" and pie. 

 About the middle of the term his mother reported that he was eating 

 three meals a day, breakfast consisting of oatmeal, milk, bread and butter 

 dinner of meat, potato and other vegetables, and supper of potato, egg, 

 fruit and milk. 



Ora G. was extremely fond of sugar and ate it in great excess, to the 

 exclusion of other foods. His mother had great difticulty in keeping it 

 away from him. At the end of the term, however, he had stopped this 

 habit, and was developing good habits of food selection. 



