SCHOOL 



5244 



SCHOOL 



public schools. In 1895 Chicago adopted a 

 similar system, and New York and Philadelphia 

 followed in 1897 and in 1898. Outside these 

 cities the plan received little attention previous 

 to 1907. Since that date med'cal inspection 

 has been introduced into practically all large 

 cities and many small ones in the United States 

 and Canada. The chief purpose has always 

 been to prevent the spread of contagious dis- 

 eases, but two other lines of work are carried 

 on. These are the inspection of pupils by 

 teachers to detect defective vision and de- 

 fective hearing, and a thorough physical exami- 

 nation by a competent physician. This looks 

 to the child's future as well as to his present 

 welfare. It is much less common than the 

 other lines of work. 



Medical inspection has made the school nurse 

 a necessity, and in large cities nurses are em- 

 ployed. Their chief duties consist in following 

 up the doctor's recommendations, treating chil- 

 dren suffering from colds and other minor 

 troubles so that they may remain in school, 

 watching for children who may need the doc- 

 tor's attention, and visiting the homes of pupils 

 who are absent because of illness. This last 

 duty often makes the nurse the connecting 

 link between the home and the school. 



The support of medical inspection in the 

 United States is inadequate, and the best re- 

 sults have not as yet been secured. In some 

 cities the work is in charge of the board of 

 health and the inspection is by physicians con- 

 nected with this board. In many of the smaller 

 cities physicians donated their services when 

 the work was introduced, and in nearly all 

 cities the remuneration is so small that ex- 

 perienced physicians cannot be secured. Nurses 

 are paid from $700 to $800 a year, but the pay 

 of physicians is so varied that no average of the 

 compensation can be given. 



Consult L. H. Gulick's Medical Inspection in 

 Schools, 1908 ; Russell Sage Foundation, What 

 American Cities Are Doing for the Health of 

 School Children and Medical Inspection Legisla- 

 tion. 



School All the Year Round. The annual 

 reports of the United States Commissioner of 

 Education show that the average number of 

 days in which the public schools of the entire 

 country are in session is a little over 158, or 

 about one-half the number of working days 

 of the year. In some states the average is a 

 little over 198 days; but in others it is less 

 than 100. Moreover, because of irregular at- 

 tendance, many pupils lose nearly one-half the 



time in which the school is in session, and the 

 same reports show that the average number 

 of days which children from five to seventeen 

 years of age inclusive spend in school each year 

 is a little over eighty-four. These figures show 

 an educational waste which should be con- 

 served. 



All educators agree that in cities the pupils 

 lose during the long summer vacation the hab- 

 its of industry gained during the school year; 

 that what they learned has not been put into 

 practice, and that too often vicious habits are 

 formed, so that it requires at least a month of 

 the next school year to bring the pupils back 

 to the condition they were in when the school 

 closed. The school authorities of a few cities 

 have tried to remedy these conditions by hav- 

 ing school twelve months in the year. The 

 most noted example of this experiment is seen 

 at Gary, Ind. (see GARY SCHOOL SYSTEM ) . New- 

 ark, N. J., and Eveleth, Minn., have also 

 adopted the plan of the all-the-year-round 

 school with marked success, and with satisfac- 

 tion to both pupils and patrons. The vacation 

 schools in large cities are instituted to over- 

 come the disadvantages of the long summer 

 vacation, but there are only a few of these 

 schools in each city and they are in session only 

 four or six weeks. While these schools are a 

 step in the right direction, they do not solve 

 the problem. 



Plan. The school year is divided into four 

 terms of twelve weeks each. One-third of the 

 work of the year may be done in one term, and 

 children are required to attend at least three 

 terms a year. When a child is enroled for the 

 summer term he is expected to attend regu- 

 larly. The work of the summer term is the 

 same as that of other terms, except that more 

 attention is given to recreation. 



Advantages. First, those pupils who have to 

 leave school to go to work as soon as the law 

 will allow gain time in school and can carry 

 their education much further than by the old 

 plan. Between his tenth and the end of his 

 fourteenth year a child may by this plan gain a 

 full school year. This gain is equally valuable 

 whether he goes to work or attends high school. 

 Secondly, the loss occasioned by the long vaca- 

 tion is prevented. Thirdly, many families liv- 

 ing in cities which have cold winters desire to 

 escape the severe winter by going to a warmer 

 climate. This they cannot do without taking 

 the children out of school. If they know that 

 the children can take their vacation in winter 

 and do their school work in summer, a serious 



