CONTROLLING AUTHORITIES 



five physicians to inspect both public and private schools. By an 

 order of the school committee the principals and teachers were 

 forbidden to extend official recognition to any but Dr. Bannon, who 

 had been appointed by the school committee in August, 1906, for 

 a term of three years. This state of affairs continued for some 

 time and the schools were under a double inspection, with much 

 consequent unavoidable friction. 



One of the strongest arguments in favor of medical inspec- 

 tion under the authority of boards of education undoubtedly is 

 that efficiency demands that there shall be the closest co-operation 

 between the medical and educational authorities. If the children 

 are to be benefited, if diligent effort is to be made to correct the 

 defects found, if the physical conditions brought to view are to be 

 used for the guidance of the teacher in the class room, then certainly 

 such intimate relationships are essential. 



It has been claimed that where inspection is conducted under 

 the board of health this is difficult or impossible. Certainly an 

 examination of the annual reports of some of the superintendents 

 of schools in cities where it is so conducted would indicate that the 

 educational authorities know little of the work that is being done, 

 and so regard it as of slight importance as a guide in the class room. 

 Examples of such an attitude as this are found in reports of the 

 superintendents of schools of Haverhill and Springfield, Massachu- 

 setts, for 1907. The superintendent of schools of Haverhill dis- 

 poses in his report of the subject of medical inspection with the 

 following brief remarks (pages 32-33): 



"The school physicians have continued their work on the same basis 

 as last year, under appointment from the board of health. I am permitted 

 to make the following summary of such portions of their work as admit 

 of classification. A large proportion, perhaps the largest portion of their 

 work, is not such as can be shown in the form of statistics." 



Then follows a brief list of the diseases noted by the school 

 physicians and of the statistics concerning vaccination. No details 

 are given, nor is there any mention made even of the number of 

 pupils examined. The report is confined to some 10 lines. Such 

 comment certainly does not seem to indicate intimate knowledge 



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