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connection with the annual meeting of the general association, and only superintendents and ex-superintendents were elected to office. At the Nashville meeting, in 1889, Professor Woodward, of St. Louis, was nominated for president pro tem., but he properly declined, and Mr. Rickoff was elected; and, if the writer's memory is trustworthy, only those who were eligible to membership, as prescribed in 1866, voted in the election. of officers. Since 1890 the department has held its annual meetings in February or March (no meeting being held in 1893), and the officers have been chosen at these meetings.

Since 1890 the meetings of the department have assumed more and more the character of mid-year meetings of the general association, and their programs have increasingly attracted the attendance of persons not directly connected with school administration. Meanwhile important and even vital problems in school management are waiting for solution. It is true that superintendents are interested in nearly all departments of school work, but it is also true that school supervision has its special functions and duties. If the several departments of the National Educational Association are to justify their existence, there must be a closer differentiation of function, and the special problems in each should receive the attention of experts of ability and experience.

In the revision of the constitution of the general association in 1895 the provision relating to membership in the departments (Art. III, sec. 2) was omitted, and under the constitution, as amended, each department has been free to prescribe its own conditions of membership, but only members of the general association have been eligible to office (Art. IV, sec. 4). The amendment adopted by the active members at the Charleston meeting, 1900, provides that only active members shall have the right to vote in the association or its departments.

The Department of Superintendence has full authority under the constitution of the association to limit its membership to superintendents, supervising principals, and other officers directly connected with school administration, and by regulation it may restore the aim and purpose prescribed at the organization of the body. The way is clear for such. action if the members of the department deem it advisable. The only limitation is that all members entitled to vote must be active members of the general association.

MEDICAL INSPECTION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS

DR. W. S. CHRISTOPHER, CHICAGO, ILL.

[AN ABSTRACT]'

Medical inspection in the Chicago public schools had its origin in a local epidemic of diphtheria in the Alcott School. The principal I The author of this paper failed to furnish a copy for publication.

reported five cases from that school in two days. I was appealed to for advice, but could do nothing. That condition indicated a necessity for some plan of relief. Just four weeks from that day a system of medical inspection was started in the Chicago schools.

The plan of medical inspection in Chicago is different from that employed in New York or Boston; the teachers there being the channels by means of which attention of inspectors is called to suspicious cases. In Chicago the teacher is the instrument too, but we have advantage of the rule that when the pupils are out four consecutive days they are excluded until they have been inspected by the proper authorities. Such regulation is necessary, because scarlet fever in a mild form is not easily detected. It becomes extremely desirable to detect milder forms of contagious diseases, because children so infected become bearers of the disease in its more serious forms. We are not accustomed, in Chicago, to admit children upon certificate of the attending physician, because such certificates are utterly valueless.

I do not blame the physicians for giving certificates when one is demanded by the patient, because their livelihood is at stake in many cases. That being the case, they cannot be independent, and will often give a certificate without proper warrant, upon the demand of the patient. In the case of the medical inspector, he can be independent, because he has nothing at stake whether he issues the certificate or not.

I deem it a very great advantage to have the medical inspector directly under the control of the board of education, and not under the control of the board of health. I believe it is much more efficacious when administered by inspectors who are directly responsible to the board of education, since only about one-seventh of the cases of contagious. diseases in the public schools are reported by the health department.

One of the difficulties that we meet is in disposing of the pupils who have been absent four days upon their return to school; formerly they were required to report at the principal's office upon their return, and there wait until the arrival of the medical inspector. It often happens that the inspector cannot reach the office until 11 or 12 o'clock. Parents object, and not without reason, to having their children herded together in this way. We meet this objection by sending the pupils to the rooms to which they belong, there to await the arrival of the medical inspector, pupils awaiting inspection to report to him at once.

Another objection which we have to overcome, and which still exists, arises from the opposition of parents to having their children examined by medical inspectors. Most parents fail to understand the object in view; a few, however, appreciate the benefits of the plan and heartily support it. Recently one of the patrons of the schools refused to have his child subjected to the examination of the medical inspector, claiming that the certificate of the family physician, which the child presented,

was sufficient evidence for school authorities. Suit was brought to compel the board of education to receive the child upon the physician's certificate, but the judge held that the board of education had a right to require inspection.

We ought to have in Chicago one hundred and fifty inspectors instead of fifty, so that inspection could be completed earlier, that is, within a half-hour after the opening of the schools in the morning. We spent last year $13,000 for medical inspection, but the appropriation has now been cut down to $9,000. If we could have more money and more

inspectors, we could make the system much more efficacious.

In the city of New York there were examined during the period of ten months 140,000 pupils; number excluded, 7,606. In Chicago, during a period of seven months, there were examined 115,000 pupils; the number of pupils excluded was 7,600. The number excluded in New York was .5410 per cent. of the number examined, while in Chicago during a shorter period .66 per cent. were excluded. Out of 7,606 pupils excluded in New York city, 3,500 pupils had parasitic disease in the head, as against 500 from the Chicago schools during seven months for the same reason. In Chicago we have done double the work that they have done in New York, with one-fourth the force, at one-half the cost. The medical inspectors in New York and Boston report once a month; in Chicago they report once a day. In 1898 thirty two cases of scarlet fever were reported as having been excluded from the New York schools; in Chicago 501 pupils were excluded in seven months for the same reason. I do not offer this statement in criticism of our neighbors, but to compare the methods of the two systems used.

DISCUSSION

SUPERINTENDENT AARON GOVE, Denver, Colo.- The objection raised this morning, that the question then under discussion was not legitimately a part of the work of this department, does not apply to this question. The question of medical inspection touches the work of the superintendents in a vital way. I do not know much about the comparative merits of the systems employed in different cities, and must refer to medical inspection as I know it. This is a practical matter and one that I very heartily indorse. The regulation of contagious diseases is not the only subject of medical inspection. The eyes and ears should be tested, and I am not sure but the teeth are proper subjects for inspection.

The use of the card catalog in keeping a record of the items of physical conditions deemed proper for inspection is a valuable help. This card should give the name of the pupil, state whether vaccinated, with the date, and give indication of bodily defect of any kind. This card goes with the pupil, whether he remains in the system or goes elsewhere.

In Denver eight expert opticians have placed themselves at the disposal of the principals. No embarrassment arises from our use of this help, because, when defective vision is discovered, the teacher merely informs the parent that the child's vision is

seriously defective. We positively decline to give out information contained on the cards and deny access to them by speculative traveling doctors.

SUPERINTENDENT E. P. SEAVER, Boston, Mass.- Chicago may have been able to establish a system of medical inspection in four weeks, but we have found it too great a task to perfect a system in so short a time. We have, however, had medical inspection for seven years, while Chicago has had it in operation for two years. The medical inspectors of Boston visit the schools every morning, and inspect, not only the pupils selected by the teachers, but also many others.

The Boston inspectors have done more than inspect; they have established pleasant relations with the boys and girls. The teachers have learned much from them about the symptoms of contagious diseases. The measures taken regarding scarlet fever, etc., are very thoro. It is true that this inspection occurs under authority of the board of health, but the relations of inspectors and school authorities have been pleasant and harmonious thruout. The physicians who constitute the board of medical inspectors do this work for the schools, not because they are adequately paid, but because it is a part of their duty to the public.

One advantage our system has is that a large number of the medical inspectors are agents of the board of health, and they therefore have double authority. But they may not only inspect, but may also isolate cases in the homes. They may send pupils home from school who appear to be ill, and then later on in the day may visit the homes of such children, as agents of the board of health, investigate the illness, and isolate the pupil in case of contagious disease. Such a pupil may be kept at home by the authority of the inspector until the recovery is completed. Numbers of possible epidemics have been stamped out thru the agency of medical inspectors.

SuperintendeNT W. H. MAXWELL, New York city.—I am prevented by considerations of good taste from noticing more than one or two points of the address of Dr. Christopher. I give attention to these only because of a possible reflection upon the fidelity of the inspectors of New York. Being in a position to know, I deny emphatically that the reports submitted by them are padded or represent conditions other than as they occur.

An injustice appears in the comparison of the number of scarlet fever cases reported in Chicago and New York. The thirty-two cases reported in New York represent the cases found in the schools, and not the total number of cases excluded.

DR. W. O. KROHN, Chicago, Ill. The object of the American school is to develop the best type of citizenship, best physically, best mentally, best morally a complete, well-rounded-out, well-developed personality. Such a type of citizenship is impossible without the soundest physical basis, a healthy body.

Therefore the state owes two duties to children: first, the preservation of health; second, education. In order to obtain the second we have compulsory attendance at school. It is not only illogical but unjust to maintain that we should have compulsoryeducation laws in the absence of good laws for the medical inspection of our schools. By what reasoning can we warrant ourselves in compelling children to go into the midst of danger, when we know that the school is frequently a focus for the spreading of disease? There is greater difficulty in enforcing medical inspection in the smaller cities and towns than in our large cities, for in the smaller community the sense of individualism is more pronounced. The smaller community is more nearly a social democracy. In the city the administration is more impersonal; enforcement is easier.

The most important argument for medical inspection is, to my mind, the educational benefit to the community at large, because the direct and aggressive tendency in the operation of the medical inspection of the schools is to bring to the attention of the parents in particular, and the community in general, a knowledge of the common laws of health. This knowledge soon becomes universal in spite of the most lethargic conditions. A better, more intelligent citizenship results.

The cry of the objector to medical inspection is paternalism. There is no real argument in this sordid cry of paternalism. It is simply a cry. We have heard this campaign slogan of paternalism before. It is always voiced when any movement is undertaken for improving social conditions. We have heard it when factory and sweatshop laws were proposed. We have heard it when we attempted to care for the stepchildren of the state, anywhere. If it be paternalism to care for the health of the children and of the community by providing medical inspection, then let us have more paternalism.

THE USE AND CONTROL OF EXAMINATIONS

PRESIDENT ARTHUR T. HADLEY, YALE UNIVERSITY

Every practical educator knows that an examination has two distinct aspects one looking toward the past, the other toward the future. It is a means of proving the student's attainment in that which has gone before; it is also a means of testing his power for that which is to come. It sums up the result of previous work in such a way as to help us in meting out praise or blame for what he has already done. It at the same time indicates the degree of his mental advancement, and enables us to place him for the coming year in those classes from which he will gain most profit and for which his powers will be most fully adequate. It protects our schools against waste of time in the days which precede it, by setting a mark which the student must reach. It protects our colleges against waste of time in the days that follow it, by giving us a basis on which to group our classes and arrange the tasks which are imposed. It is at once a measure of proficiency in what has been previously learned, and of power for what as yet remains unlearned.

Unfortunately, these two qualities do not always coincide. We have all had experience with pupils who have been faithful in the performance of their duties, and have acquired that kind of knowledge which enables them to pass a well-conducted examination creditably, but who do not possess that degree of mental training which fits them to go on toward higher studies side by side with those whose acquirements may be less, but whose grasp of principles is stronger. Proficiency in subjects studied during the few months previous to the examination is at best largely a matter of memory; and it not infrequently happens that such memory is most highly developed in those very pupils who have done comparatively little real thinking for themselves. This difficulty may be lessened by skill in arranging the examination; but, strive as we may, it can never be wholly eliminated. On the contrary, it is a thing which is increased by many of our modern changes, both in courses of study and in methods of examination.

In many of the older subjects of study the difficulty hardly exists at all. Take mathematics, for instance. In this group of sciences proficiency in one grade is almost synonymous with power to go on with the

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