SCHOOL SURROUNDINGS 501 



Self-Testing Exercise 



The best known germicide is (1). Some cities require 



the rooms of all apartments to have (2) (3). Gas 



leaks are harmful because of the danger of (4) (5) . 



Bacteria on dishes can only be destroyed by (6) (7). 



Foods should be protected from (8). Milk in home should 



be kept on (9) to prevent (10) of (11). 



Water supplies should be (12) and (13) against 



pollution. A septic tank is (14) than a (15). 



PROBLEM XH. HOW MAY WE IMPROVE CONDITIONS AT 

 SCHOOL? 



School surroundings. For forty weeks in the year from five to 

 six hours a day are spent by the average boy or girl in the schoolroom. 

 It is part of our environment and should therefore be considered 

 as worthy of our care. A schoolroom should be not only attractive, 

 but also clean and sanitary. City schools, because of their loca- 

 tion, poor janitor service, or the selfishness and carelessness of chil- 

 dren who use them, may be very dirty and unsanitary. Bacteria 

 thrive in warm moist places where food is present, and float in the 

 air with particles of dust. Experiments show that there are many 

 more bacteria in the air when pupils are moving about, for then 

 dust, bearing bacteria, is stirred up and circulated through the 

 air. Sweeping and dusting with dry brooms or dusters stirs up 

 the dust, which settles in some other place with its load of bacteria. 

 Professor Hodge tells of an experience in a school in Worcester, 

 Massachusetts. A health brigade was formed among the children, 

 whose duty was to clean the rooms every morning by wiping all 

 exposed surfaces with damp cloths. In a school of 425 pupils not 

 a single case of communicable disease appeared during the entire 

 year. Hundreds of schools have tried experiments similar to this 

 and always with the same result, a pleasanter and cleaner building 

 and better health of pupils. 



Pupils should be unselfish in the care of a school building. 

 Papers and scraps dropped by some careless boy or girl make the 

 surroundings unpleasant for hundreds of others. Chalk thrown 

 h. bio — 33 



