MEDICAL INSPECTION OF SCHOOLS 



SCHOOL FURNITURE 



Any proper sort of school furniture should furnish a seat of such 

 height that the feet will rest easily on the floor. It should have a desk 

 high enough not to touch the knees. It should have a desk low enough 

 for the arm to rest on comfortably without much raising of the elbow; 

 not, however, so low that the scholar must bend down to write on it. 



The seat should be near enough so that the scholar may reach the 

 desk to write on it without leaning forward more than a little, and without 

 entirely losing the support of the backrest. The seat should not be so 

 close as to press against the abdomen nor near enough to interfere with 

 easy rising from the seat. This means a distance of ten and one-half 

 to fourteen and one-half inches from the edge of the desk to the seat 

 back; it also means that the seat must not project under the desk more 

 than an inch at most. 



The seat should have a backrest that will support the "small of 

 the back" properly, without having the scholar lean back excessively. 

 Whether it also supports the rest of the back or not is of small conse- 

 quence; support of the back carried up to the level of the shoulder blades 

 is likely to do more harm than good. 



These are given as the minimum requirements. Whether or not 

 regular adjustable furniture is in use, we should not be content with 

 less than the accomplishment in one way or another of these primitive 

 adjustments. More accurate adjustment is desirable, and less care in 

 adjusting would be hard to justify, in the light of our present knowledge 

 of the results of faulty attitude. 



