Civics and Health(Annotated)

CONTENTS

PART I. HEALTH RIGHTS

CHAPTER PAGE
I. HEALTH A CIVIC OBLIGATION 3
II. SEVEN HEALTH MOTIVES AND SEVEN CATCHWORDS 11
III. WHAT HEALTH RIGHTS ARE NOT ENFORCED IN YOUR COMMUNITY? 23
IV. THE BEST INDEX TO COMMUNITY HEALTH IS THE PHYSICAL WELFARE OF SCHOOL CHILDREN 33

PART II. READING THE INDEX TO HEALTH RIGHTS
V. MOUTH BREATHING 45
VI. CATCHING DISEASES, COLDS, DISEASED GLANDS 57
VII. EYE STRAIN 72
VIII. EAR TROUBLE, MALNUTRITION, DEFORMITIES 83
IX. DENTAL SANITATION 89
X. ABNORMALLY BRIGHT CHILDREN 104
XI. NERVOUSNESS OF TEACHER AND PUPIL 107
XII. HEALTH VALUE OF "UNBOSSED" PLAY AND PHYSICAL TRAINING 115
XIII. VITALITY TESTS AND VITAL STATISTICS 124
XIV. IS YOUR SCHOOL MANUFACTURING PHYSICAL DEFECTS? 139
XV. THE TEACHER'S HEALTH 152

PART III. COÖPERATION IN MEETING HEALTH OBLIGATIONS
XVI. EUROPEAN REMEDIES: DOING THINGS AT SCHOOL 159
XVII. AMERICAN REMEDIES: GETTING THINGS DONE 166
XVIII. COÖPERATION WITH DISPENSARIES AND CHILD-SAVING AGENCIES 174
XIX. SCHOOL SURGERY AND RELIEF OBJECTIONABLE, IF AVOIDABLE 184
XX. PHYSICAL EXAMINATION FOR WORKING PAPERS 190
XXI. PERIODICAL PHYSICAL EXAMINATION AFTER SCHOOL AGE 201
XXII. HABITS OF HEALTH PROMOTE INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY 208
XXIII. INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE 218
XXIV. THE LAST DAYS OF TUBERCULOSIS 229
XXV. THE FIGHT FOR CLEAN MILK 252
XXVI. PREVENTIVE "HUMANIZED" MEDICINE: PHYSICIAN AND TEACHER 268

PART IV. OFFICIAL MACHINERY FOR ENFORCING HEALTH RIGHTS
XXVII. DEPARTMENTS OF SCHOOL HYGIENE 283
XXVIII. PRESENT ORGANIZATION OF SCHOOL HYGIENE IN NEW YORK CITY 296
XXIX. OFFICIAL MACHINERY FOR ENFORCING HEALTH RIGHTS 302
XXX. SCHOOL AND HEALTH REPORTS 310
XXXI. THE PRESS 322

PART V. ALLIANCE OF HYGIENE, PATRIOTISM, AND RELIGION
XXXII. DO-NOTHING AILMENTS 329
XXXIII. HEREDITY BUGABOOS AND HEREDITY TRUTHS 335
XXXIV. INEFFECTIVE AND EFFECTIVE WAYS OF COMBATING ALCOHOLISM 343
XXXV. IS IT PRACTICABLE IN PRESENTING TO CHILDREN THE EVILS OF ALCOHOLISM TO TELL THE TRUTH, THE WHOLE TRUTH, AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH? 357
XXXVI. FIGHTING TOBACCO EVILS 363
XXXVII. THE PATENT-MEDICINE EVIL 369
XXXVIII. HEALTH ADVERTISEMENTS THAT PROMOTE HEALTH 378
XXXIX. IS CLASS INSTRUCTION IN SEX HYGIENE PRACTICABLE? 384
XL. THE ELEMENT OF TRUTH IN QUACKERY; HYGIENE OF THE MIND 391
XLI. "A NATURAL LAW IS AS SACRED AS A MORAL PRINCIPLE" 398
INDEX 405

CIVICS AND HEALTH


PART I. HEALTH RIGHTS

CHAPTER I
HEALTH A CIVIC OBLIGATION
In forty-five states and territories the teaching of hygiene with special reference to alcohol and tobacco is made compulsory. To hygiene alone, of the score of subjects found in our modern grammar-school curriculum, is given statutory right of way for so many minutes per week, so many pages per text-book, or so many pages per chapter. For the neglect of no other study may teachers be removed from office and fined. Yet school garrets and closets are full of hygiene text-books unopened or little used, while of all subjects taught by five hundred thousand American teachers and studied by twenty million American pupils the least interesting to both teacher and pupil is that forced upon both by state legislation. To complete the paradox, this least interesting subject happens also to be the most vital to the child, to the home, to industry, to social welfare, and to education itself.
Whether the subject of hygiene is necessarily dull, whether the statutes requiring regular instruction in the laws of health are violated with impunity, whether health principles are flaunted by health practice at school,--these are questions of immediate concern to parents as a class, to employers as a class, to every pastor, every civic leader, every health officer, every taxpayer.
Interviews with teachers and principals regarding the present apathy to formal hygiene instruction have brought out the following points that merit the serious consideration of those who are struggling for higher health standards.
1. There is many a slip 'twixt the making of a law and its enforcement. If laws regarding hygiene instruction are not enforced, we should not be surprised. It has been nobody's business to see whether and how hygiene is being taught. The moral crusade spent itself in forcing compulsory laws upon the statute books of every state and territory. Making a fetish of Legislation, the advocates of anti-alcohol and anti-tobacco instruction failed to see the truth that experienced political reformers are but slowly coming to see--Legislation which does not provide machinery for its own enforcement is apt to do little good and frequently will do much harm. Machinery, however admirably adapted to the work to be done, will get out of order and become useless, or even harmful, unless constantly watched and efficiently directed. Of what possib