MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



If these figures are substantially significant for all New York 

 City school children, their educational and economic import is 

 great. According to the data, the child with seriously defective 

 teeth requires half a year more than a non-defective child to com- 

 plete the eight grades. About one-half of the children have 

 seriously defective teeth. The handicap imposed by defective 

 breathing means six-tenths of a year. About one child in seven 

 has defective breathing. The child with hypertrophied tonsils 

 takes about seven-tenths of a year more than he should. About 

 one child in every four has hypertrophied tonsils. The extra 

 time required by the child with adenoids is about one and one- 

 tenth years. About one child in eight has adenoids. The pupil 

 with enlarged glands requires one and two-tenths years extra. 

 Nearly half of the children have enlarged glands. 



The sums of money spent annually by New York City for 

 public education reach high into the millions. It would be a 

 simple matter to compute how many dollars are wasted each year 

 in the futile attempt to impart instruction to pupils whose mental 

 faculties are dulled through remediable physical defects. Roughly 

 speaking, about 60 per cent of all the children suffer from such 

 defects. If, then, we should show that the instruction given 

 "these children suffers a loss in effectiveness of nearly 10 per cent 

 because of remediable physical defects, it is evident that the direct 

 financial bearing of the problem is of great significance. 



Such a computation, while it would undoubtedly prove 

 interesting, is perhaps better left unmade because we do not 

 know that the data discussed are either truly reliable or generally 

 representative. They are based on a comparatively small number 

 of cases in one city, in one year, and could similar data be se- 

 cured for longer periods of time and in more localities it is 

 not only possible but probable that they would show different 

 results. 



The examination is important because it establishes the 

 principle that, except in the case of vision, older children have 

 fewer defects. It shows that when children who are badly 

 retarded are compared with normal and very bright children in 

 the same age groups, the children rated as "dull" are found to 

 have higher percentages of each sort of defect than the normal 



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