HEALTH AND HYGIENE

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1494, 17 July 1912, Page 4

HEALTH AND HYGIENE

SCHOOL PROBLEMS. AND TUB KISIXC! OK NICIiATIOX. During the course of an interesting lecture «(. the Parish Hull, Lower Unit, oil Monday evening, Dr. 'Truby King, speaking on physiological questions in relation to the educational period of life, said Hint, looking tho fuels squarely in the face, there "'as no reason to iluulit. that the great majority of common disease'; all'licling mankind to-day could be almost eradicated by the spread of enlightenment and the establishment of healthy habits in our nurseries and schools, liy this means they euuld almost banish dental caries, colds, coughsj infantile diarrhoea, indigestion, constipation, and consumption, and the train of ills that follow in their wake, reducing public expenditure on invalids and incompetents to a mere, fraction of the present enormous and growing outlay.

Simplify the Business. Referring to the defectivo knowledge nml lack Df interest displayed in our schools in.physiology, and the general indifference shown as to the laws of healt'hv living, Dr. King snid that tho fault lay, not with the students themselves—they were merely tho victims—the fault lay with the education system, which alloweil 'young people to grow up without the most rudimentary ideas as to the essentials for health, and without troubling itself to find out whether their habits were faulty or otherwise. What was laid down and advised in regard to the teaching of physiology in our schools contained its own condemnation. What was the use of trying to interest boys and girls' in a subject of this kind by means of dull, dry books, overloaded with useless names and details, and with, only half an hour a week devoted to it. As Professor Miall said, after thirty years devoted to teaching:—

"I would beg the sohoolmastcr who finds himself unable to cope with a crowded time-tablo to simplify the business at all hazards. Take up only so ninny subjects that <>nch may come round pretty nearly every day. Limit (ho lessons to fifty minutes (less in junior forms), and have ten minutes out of every hour for a •scamper out of doors. Let the liome -work sink to a subsidiary, and in great part voluntary occupation for the older and more ambitious boys. Above all, (rust to enlightened and animated teaching.

What .our teachers • longed for, and what our education system did not give them, was a plain definition of a limited scope of essentials which must be taught, and taught thoroughly, • mid further n clear statement as to what was the simplest and best book on the particular subject. The unfortunate teacher became lost in an infinite maze of /lectin" educational books, pamphlets, and school journals, mostly prepared by hack writers, instead of being directed to the* few best books in the English language, written by the clearest thinkers and expositorsbooks which would suflico for all the educational purposes of our primary schools and which would not need to be constantly replaced to keep pace with' the. kaleidoscopic changes of educational fashion.

Soft Food; Its Results. The official'scheme for teaching hygiene did not give the slightest hint that' there was any harm in such habits and nothing was said as to the need for eating hard load. Compare this with the sound, senm.e a(lvic « contained in the primerIhcre is no part of the body that is useless; every part has its duty to perform." Some children will not eat anything hard, they do not like hard crusts of breitd. lou would almost think they had falws teeth and were afraid of breaking them by eating anything, hard or tough. Gums would do as well as teeth for the food they eat.- They do not use their teeth. So the teeth decay and are taken art-ay from them. To emphasise the effect of exercise, tho lecturer-shon-Pi! the skull of an elderly Maon ; whosetough, hard diet of fern-root had given Win, like all the older Maoris, a splendid-set of teeth'; showing not a spcck-oi_carries,. though the younger gen-' eratiou of. Jlaoris, having adopted soft food, sireets.and (lomv ground iivmills.iii--stead of in the mouth, were now subject to decayed teeth just like ourselves. This was surely tlic.kind of practical local les-' 5?. n , to . schools; : -Dr. .Pickerill/.the Professor of Dentistry in. Otago University, the leading authority in the Dominion, had no doiibt about the 'fact that the battle against dental caries .would ■ have fo.ibo fought 'out mainly ih the nursery, and in the.primary schools. Dr Pickenll found' bad teeth much more pre-' valent in >;ew Zealand than in' England, and it appeared from our defence report, just issued, that, there were more than twice as. many of our youths rejected on a ? c ?, mit ~ of 'decayed teeth as in the ca*e of the British Army. In Dr. Pickeries opinion this is due to people in New Zealand being better.off all round, and children eating far nioro sweets in consequence. The report of the floyal Commission on physical deterioration found that dental caries was a potent cause of physical deterioration and Professor Osier, of. Oxford is of the opinion that in this respect the effect of dental disease is greater than that of alcohol. . .• . Surely a disease anecting _ 00 per cent of the" population and as far-reaching in its effects as this has been shown to bo is a national' ill . . . thousands of pounds are wasted annually in the treatment of phthisicalpatients who cannot masticate properly the'food abundantly supplied, etc.

Menace to Womanhood. "Our modern system of education has a decidedly injurious, influence upon the genera and sexual strength of women," •"ivl i;fH Vl"' ,H" ol . in S from Ooodcll. 100 little attention is paid to the development ot tho physique and the general health in our efforts to give young girls a polished education. There is no attempt upon the part of parents or educators to regulate the amount or character of mental work to suit the health and -temperament ot the individual, and'no consideration is given to the necessity for special care mid attention at the time of puberty and during the menstrual periods, wheii nature demands, physical and mental rest lonng girls are sent to school or to college and subjected daily'to long hours ot study, m cramped positions, and in badly-ventilated class-rooms, regardless of their ago or physical condition, or the demands ol their sexual development , /In one word, it is to the present cramninig and high-pressure system of education, together with its environment, that 1 attribute much ot the menstrual derangements, the sterility, and the infeennditv oi our women, the absence of sexual feeling, tho aversion to maternity, the too often lingering convalescence from a first labour, which is frequently the onlv one, and the very common inability'to - suckle their offspring. From this cause come most of my unmarried patients with nerve prostration, with their protean mimicry of uterine symptoms-unmarried often because they are not well enough to wed If woman is to be thus stunted and deformed to meet the ambitious demands of the day, if her health must be sacrificed upon tho altar of her education, the time may como when, to renew the worn-out stock ot this Republic, it will be needful for our young men to make matrimonial incursions into lands where educational theories are unknown." In view t,f all the facts, Dr. King said he could not understand how girls and women continued to desiro.to TiaviS imposed on them a form, of education which had become evolved in an unfit way for boys, and which was ten limes more liarmful and unfit for girls. Had women originated a.,system of education specially adopted to their own'natures, needs, anil tasles, and .-ipcoial aptitude, it. could scarcely be conceived that men would have consented to the same scheme, enforced on boys, and he felt that the time limj come when something should be arrived nt in the way of education more suited to the-highest interest* of women. It was not merely a question of doin? away with competition with voung men for university scholarships, but the whole scheme n.'eded recasting. As a matter of detail for immediate amendment, the Medical Association has desired him lo protest njfainst. the present requirement of the mitlienl certificate when parents wished to keep their daughters periodically away from school, n'ml lie was glad to do so. The lecturer, then read n summary practical suggestion in connection with education, which was piac'tk.-illy what he had advocated some six rears, ago, with a few extensions in detail..