MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



Minnesota, Rhode Island, and Utah, and are conducted without 

 legal enactment in many towns and cities of other states. 



The only expenses incurred in such examinations, in addition 

 to the cost of the teacher's time, are for printed material consisting 

 of directions, test cards, record blanks, notices to parents, etc. 

 Even for a large number of children, the expense is low. The 

 amount appropriated by the Massachusetts act is $800 per year, 

 and of this appropriation only $592 was actually expended in 

 1910-11. As there are approximately half a million children in 

 the public schools of Massachusetts, this means an annual per 

 capita expenditure of slightly more than one mill. 



In Connecticut, where tests of vision are conducted trien- 

 nially, the total expense for the state is about $700 for each test, 

 which means a per capita cost of nearly one-half cent. 



The time necessary to conduct these examinations is from 

 three to five minutes per pupil. These figures show that both in 

 time and in money, the necessary expenditure for conducting 

 vision and hearing tests by teachers is slight. 



Such tests do not take the place of thorough examinations 

 by competent trained experts. It cannot be gainsaid, however, 

 that they are of great and real value, and it is to be doubted 

 whether, in the whole range of educational endeavor, there can be 

 discovered another field where so great returns for good are to be 

 secured at so small an expenditure of time and money. 



SALARIES AND PER CAPITA COST FOR SALARIES 



The great variation in the amount and character of work 

 done in different systems of medical inspection renders a discus- 

 sion of salaries most difficult. This is because of the inherent 

 difficulty in comparing the work done in one locality per unit 

 of salary with that performed in another. An idea of the salaries 

 paid to school physicians and nurses in American cities may be 

 gained from Table 29.* This table presents conditions in 1911 

 in 77 American cities of more than 8,000 population where the 

 work was conducted under the auspices of the board of educa- 

 tion. Data are taken from the investigation conducted by the 



*See p. 104 ff. 

 I O2 



