DEFECTIVE EYESIGHT.

Taranaki Daily News, 15 February 1918, Page 6

DEFECTIVE EYESIGHT.

SOME SUGGESTED REMEDIES. Auckland, Feb. 13. Tin; question of the defective sight of children attending the primary schools was the subject of a report submitted to the Hoard of Education by Dr. Elizabeth MacDonnld. Dr Mac Donald said: "There appears sto be no doubt that defects in. eyesight are increasing among children attending the primary schools, and it appears from the somewhat scanty investigations already made by medical inspectors in New Zealand that these defects increase as tlie children proceed from Standard I. upwards to Standard VI. It is therefore natural to conclude that the con. Irtitions under which the children use their -eyes during these years have some direct bearing on the production of defects of eyesight. The school conditions must bear part of the blame. The increasing attendance at picture shows probably is another important factor, especially where children under ten, .whose eyes are very immature, attend such shows frequently." Dr Mac Donald expressed the opinion that working so much on glazed whits paper is probably not a factor in the production of defects unless the paper is so highly glazed as to be dazzling in some degree. Many classrooms are wrongly and inefficiently lit, and this fact, in her opinion, was the greatest single factor in the production of sight defects.

Dr Mac Donald recommended that children in Standard I. be taught to write midway between heavy guiding lines, thi.s making it a matter of muscular and nervous co-ordination rather than purely depending on the eyesight for accuracy. The report also suggested that children in the lower standards might profitably be taught knitting, and not sewing, as the latter trained the hands to fine movements without eye strain.