PHYSICAL EXAMINATIONS 



material reduced to relative form so as to show the conditions 

 among each thousand children examined in each of the cities. 



While the comparison is interesting and instructive, the 

 tables do not give an entirely accurate comparative view of condi- 

 tions existing among the school children of the different cities. 

 School physicians have varying standards for recording the differ- 

 ent defects. Moreover, there is lack of uniformity in nomen- 

 clature. In the present case adenoids have been included with 

 defective nasal breathing under nose defects, and hypertrophied 

 tonsils have been included under throat defects. Again, figures 

 for defects of vision and hearing are lacking for Boston, because 

 in that city the examination for these defects is conducted 

 by the teachers instead of by the physicians, and further 

 blanks in the table are caused by the fact that New York, 

 Pasadena, and St. Louis do not report cases of enlarged cervical 

 glands. 



Bearing in mind these considerations, we are still safe in 

 interpreting the table as showing that the school physicians find 

 about 65 per cent of the children in our public schools to be suffering 

 from physical defects serious enough to require attention; that the 

 most common are those of teeth, throat, eyes, and nose; and that 

 these four classes of defects combined constitute about 85 per cent 

 of all those discovered. 



Under the caption "other defects" are included many 

 abnormal physical conditions varying greatly in importance. 

 Some idea of the variety and proportion of these latter may be 

 gained from Table 13, which shows the number and per cent of 

 physical defects found by the school physicians in the schools of 

 New York during the calendar year 1911. 



The publication of tables similar to those given here has 

 resulted in many misapprehensions on the part of the public 

 and those specially interested in the public schools. It has been 

 repeatedly stated that results of physical examinations proved that 

 two-thirds or three-fourths of all our children are physically 

 defective, and such statements have aroused much discussion 

 and called forth some denials. The difficulty is one of words 

 rather than of facts. To use the word "defective" as it has been 

 used in these cases is to give it a new and somewhat strained 



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