DEFECTIVE EYESIGHT

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 126, 14 February 1918, Page 4

DEFECTIVE EYESIGHT

IN SCHOOL CHILDREN. By Telegraph,—Press Association. Auckland, February 13. The question of defective sight of children attending primary schools was the subject of a report submitted to the Board of Education by Dr. Elizabeth Macdonald. Dr. Macdonald said that there appears to be no doubt that defects in eyesight are increasing amongst children attending primary schools, and that it appears from the somewhat scanty investigations already made by medical inspectors in New Zealand" that theso defects increase as children proceed from Standard I upwards to Standard VI. It is, therefore, natural to conclude that conditions under which children use their eyes during these years have some direct bearing on the production of defects of eyesight. School conditions must bear'part of the blame. Increasing attendances at picture shows probably is another important factor, especially where children under ten, whose eyes are very immature, attend such shows frequently. Dr. Macdonald expressed the opinion that working so much on glazed white paper is probably not n factor in the prod notion of defects unless the paner used is so highly glazed as to he dazzling in some degree. Many class-rooms are wroncly and inefficiently lit, and this fact in' her opinion was the greatest single factor in the production of sight defects. Dr. Macdonald recommended that children in Standard I bo tausht to write midway between heavy Kuidinr lines, thus malting it a matter of muscular and nervous coordination rather than purely depending on evesight for accuracv. Tito report also sugp-esfed that children in tho lower standards might profitably ho taught knittint and not sewing, as the former trained hands to fine movements without eye strain.