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Image provided by: South Dakota State Historical Society – State Archives
Newspaper Page Text
Tffiv OnL^LA JAGfU 'lift1'1 I X-^SN inherent right to a good strong body free from demoralizing defects. The teacher who is alert and watchful can detect many cases of bodily defects among the children who come under her care. All children should be taught how to take care of the body and form correct habits of living. Much attention is being paid now to the hygienic conditions under which school work is done. The school may be a breeding place for disease or it may be a source of life and health. The teacher is directly or indirectly responsible for many of the conditions obtaining there. The li^ht, heat, and ventilation are mainly under her control. She is responsible for right habits of posture. If the seats are not adjusted to (he needs of the children the matter should be reported to the proper authority. The habit of correct posture must be insisted on and corrective exercises should be given. We are beginning to realize, however, that the teaching of hygiene alone is inadequate to the needs of hundreds of children who are suffering from defects that cannot be cured or overcome by the ordinary observance of the rules of health. Such children must be given special treatment if reached at all Some of the advance movements in the interest of these unfortunates are open air schools for consumptives, medical inspection of school children, and dental clinics. The teacher alone can do a great deal for these children if she is on the watch for indications of disease or physical defects. A few of the most common defects are: adenoids and enlarged tonsils, defective sight, defective hearing, malnutrition, and bad teeth. The symptoms of adenoids and enlarged tonsils are mouth breathing, stuffy speech, a running nose, a constant clearing of the throat, deafness, lack of interest and ambition, general debility, and mental and moral deficiency. The disease is frequently character ized by a narrow upper jaw and irregular crowding teeth. More cases of insubordination, truancy, and general delinquency may be attributed to this disease ihan to any other. We are beginning to see the connection between inability to breathe through the nose 6.