CHAPTER XI 

 PHYSICAL DEFECTS AND SCHOOL PROGRESS 



THE literature of the newer school hygiene contains many 

 references to the close relation between physical defec- 

 tiveness and school retardation. Unfortunately, however, 

 few investigations have been conducted to find out just what 

 relation exists between progress and the physical condition of the 

 pupil, and the published reports of such investigations as have 

 been carried on are meager and unsatisfactory. 



Six American studies bearing on the problem are sufficiently 

 significant to warrant review. The first of these was an investiga- 

 tion carried on by Dr. Walter S. Cornell and reported in the 

 Psychological Clinic for January, 1908.* 



DEFECTS AMONG "EXEMPT" AND "NON-EXEMPT" CHILDREN 



In Philadelphia, where Dr. Cornell's work was done, the 

 pupils were divided into so-called "exempt" children, those whose 

 work had been so thoroughly satisfactory that they were advanced 

 to higher grades without examination, and "non-exempt," those 

 whose work was less satisfactory. Among 1,594 children in five 

 schools who were given physical examinations, he found the follow- 

 ing: 



TABLE 35. PERCENT OF CHILDREN EXAMINED FOUND DEFECTIVE, 



AMONG 907 "EXEMPT" AND 687 "NON-EXEMPT" CHILDREN, 



IN PHILADELPHIA, PENN. 



Cornell, Walter S., M.D.: The Relation of Physical to Mental Defect in 

 School Children. Psychological Clinic, Jan. 15, 1908, pp. 231-234. 



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