298 ILLINOIS STATE ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 



SOME COMMENTS ON THE PHYSICAL FINDINGS 

 IN HIGH SCHOOL GRADUATES 



J. Howabd Beard, M. D., University Health Officer, 



Urbana 



The generalizations made herewith are based directly 

 upon 2955 medical examinations of high school gradu- 

 ates made in September, 1922, of which 885 were of wom- 

 en and 2070 were of men. They are further supported 

 by similar approximate findings in a total of 12,000 medi- 

 cal records of high school graduates, of which 9000 are 

 of men and 3000 of women. As one group of 26 physi- 

 cians and 18 specialists and dentists assisted in examin- 

 ing the men, and another of 11 physicians and 4 special- 

 ists assisted in examining the women, the total defects 

 considered represent a composite opinion rather than 

 that of one individual with a preconception or a fixed 

 idea. 



The most important deduction, in my judgment, to be 

 drawn from the findings of the medical examination of 

 high school graduates is that physically, mentally, and 

 morally, they are unsurpassed by any group of similar 

 age of which there is record for comparison. It should 

 be pointed out at the outset that a large proportion of 

 the mechanical defects noted are minor and are not, in 

 reality, a serious handicap in civil life. Impairments of 

 the special sense organs and of the teeth are to such a 

 large degree correctable, as, in the vast majority of cases, 

 not to interfere markedly with effective living. 



general development 



Slightly more than one-half of the high school gradu- 

 ates examined in 1922 received a classification of good 

 in their physical development at the time of their physi- 

 cal examination. About one-third were recorded as fair, 

 3.2% of excellent development, and 5.2% of poor develop- 

 ment. 



The relative general development of men and of wom- 

 en differs but little. xV slightly larger per cent of the 

 men are classified as good ; a somewhat greater per cent 

 of women than of men, as fair. This difference in 

 physique of men and of women may be influenced, in a 



