196 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



county should have one full time health officer, one or more school 

 and district nurses, and one or more community health centers 

 to provide rational, self-supporting health and medical service 

 for all the people. 



Sixth Cooperation of physicians, medical organizations, 

 health hoards, and all other available organizations in the rural 

 health program. 



Seventh Effective health instruction for the rural schools 

 which shall aim decisively at the following results : 



(a) Establishment of health habits and inculcation of lasting 

 ideas and standards of wise and efficient living in pupils. 



(b) Extension of health conduct and care to the school, to the 

 homes, and to the entire community. 



Eighth Better trained and better paid teachers for rural 

 schools, who shall be adequate to the health problems as well 

 as to the other phases of the work of rural education. 



Ninth Sanitary and attractive school buildings, which are 

 essential to the health of pupils and teachers. 



Tenth Generous provision of space and facilities for whole- 

 some play and recreation. 



Eleventh Special classes and schools for the physically and 

 mentally deficient, in which children may receive the care and 

 instruction requisite for their exceptional needs. 



Better health is to a striking extent a purchasable commodity 

 and benefit. Vast sums of money are expended from public and 

 private funds for the amelioration of human suffering and dis- 

 ability in the attempt to salvage the wreckage resulting from un- 

 favorable earlier conditions, which with foresight and at very 

 moderate cost might in large measure have been prevented. 



Our schools are spending millions in educating, or trying to 

 educate, the children who are kept back by ill-health, when the 

 expenditure of thousands in a judicious health program would 

 produce an extraordinary saving in economy and efficienc3 r . A 

 dollar saved in a wise, constructive effort to conserve a child's 

 health and general welfare will be more fruitful to the child and 

 for the general good than a thousand times that sum delayed for 

 twenty years. The principle of thrift in education finds its 

 first and most vital application in the conservation and improve- 

 ment of the health of the children. 



