University of Southern Mississippi - Southerner Yearbook (Hattiesburg, MS)

Page 15 text:

Tlhr ihnrrgenrg liit fm' thv llurzzl Svrhnnl HE emergency kit is an important factor in the rural school equipment. In fact, no school is fully complete without it. Since medical attention is not in reach of every rural school, every possible convenience should be provided in case of emergency or accident. When a serious accident occurs, thewemergency kit is not intended to take the place of calling a physician or surgeon, but may be provided with helpful means of relief until skilled assistance arrives. ALBERT BROWNING There are many ailments and accidents that are common among school children. Such ailments as toothache, earache, insect bites and stings, cuts, bruises, and sprains, that may not be immediately serious, but may become serious and place an effectual check on the school work if neg- lected. The antiseptics furnished by the emergency kit may prevent any serious de- velopment if used intelligently. Every teacher should possess such training as would enable him to apply simple and practical remedies for the minor defects and accidents. The emergency kit can be constructed and furnished at a very small cost. Any man or the school boys can easily make the cabinet. A chest, box, or a shelf, with lock and key, will serve as a cabinet. Then the contents can be supplied. The Hygiene Department of the Mississippi Normal College suggests the fol- lowing emergency kit: . Turpentine C3 or 4 oz.l 2. Bandages 292 in. wide and about 6 yds. longl 3. Several yards of clean white cheese cloth 4. Rubber adhesive plasters QZ. O. plasters on spoolsl 5. Absorbent cotton 6. Soap, towels, and basin or pan 7. Tinct. Iodine C4 oz.D 8. Oil of Cloves ffor toothachel 9. Spirits of Camphor 10. Aromatic Spirits of Ammonia is teaspoonful in water for headache or after faintingl 11. Alcohol Cfor burnsl 12. Boric acid solution 4 per cent. ffor burns and inHamed eyesl 13. Teaspoon and small medicine glass 14. Scissors 15. Pins Cstraight and safetyl 16. Needles and thread 17. Common Sense and Seli-control. ALBERT BROWNING. Holmes County l 4

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iqealilt in 'iKural Anwrira R. Thomos Wood, Chairman of the committee on health problems in education and public instruction, reported that country children are less healthful than city children. The study of conditions surrounding the education of the children of this country results in exposing facts and con- clusions both startling and significant. More than half of the twenty million school children in the United States are attending rural schools. Country children attending rural schools are less healthy and have more physical defects than those of the city schools. And this is true, in gener- al, of all parts of the United States. If rural America is to continue to be a satis- factory nursery of human life for the nation, it must be made attractive and healthful. It must provide conditions favorable for the cultivation of the best. The improvement of human health and welfare in rural America is a problem affecting national safety and prosperity. It is a problem dealing with the most essential and most endangered of all our national resources Statistics show that in every health item the country child is more defective than the city child. This is contrary to popular opinion. The claim that the health of the people in the country is not so good as the health in the city finds further proof by an examination of the health of the State of New York. Since 1910 the death rate in rural New York has been greater than in New York City. The science and art of human living, have advanced much more rapidly in cities than in country districts. The country home and country school are, on an aver- age, less sanitary and healthful than the city home and school. The home is, as a rule, insanitary in many respects. It is often very badly ventilated and the dwellers for many hours of the day breathe bad air. Country water and food are less wholesome than water and food of the city. That country children deserve as much health and happiness as city children is an assertion that needs no argument. Yet we find that in those features of physical and moral outlook the activities of the public authorities are limited practically to the ESCAR L. BOOTH Itawamba County schools of the cities. This is indicated by the following table: HEALTH WORK IN CITY AND RURAL SCHOOLS OF THE UNITED STATES. Activity Medical inspection laws in 24 States Mandatory laws Permissive laws Medical inspection practiced Dental inspection by dentists Dental clinics Clinics for eye, nose, throat, and other defects Nurses Open air classes Athletics and recreationg organiz- ed, with appropriate facilities and equipment Warm lunches in schools For City Children Mandatory for cities only in 12 States. Apply to all cities Enforced in most cities In over 400 cities In 69 cities In 50 cities In cities 750 in 135 cities In cities only Practically all cities and large towns In over 90 cities in 21 States ESCAR L. 3 For Country Children Mandatory for rural schools in 7 States In 7 States In 6 of the 13 states having such laws In 13 States, in parts of 130 counties Permitted in 2 States, but not yet provided In one rural county, tSt. John's County, Florida.j None In 12-20 rural districts Little provision in rural schools In a few scattered schools in 9 States BOOTH.

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Ellie ifwlatinu nf lhggirnr in Ihr iKUI'EIlglIl1IlHl5 nf illiiaaizaippi HE hygienic conditions of the rural schools in Mississippi have long been neglectedg but now the time has come when the people are aroused to this responsibility. Almost three centuries ago our rural school system had its birth. During all this time, the peo- ple have believed very much in education. Even though the pioneers have pushed out to occupy new territory, they have never failed to erect school houses. Born as they were in the travail of poverty, a n d nourished not infrequently through sacrifice almost of the very necessities of life, it is no wonder that the rural school served its purpose in those days. D. P. COOLEY Wayne County Since those times, our nation has gone through a marvelous, social and industrial transformation. The time has changed. Hygieneic conditions are beginning to demand the attention of the rural schools of today. Conservation of health should be the first responsibility of the school. The re- lation of a sound and healthy body to success and happiness is so vital that the matter of hygiene constitutes one of the most important problems of education. The last few years have seen an unprecedented interest in hygiene and public health. As a people, we are awaking to the fact that it is possible to live long, more happily and more suc- cessfully by obeying certain simple hygienic laws governing the functions of our bodies. The rural school owes to its pupils and patrons three things: ill to make hygienic conditions in the school itself such that no harm can come to the health or physical well being of the pupils: 125 to remedy such physical defects as are present: CSD so to instruct in the laws of hygiene that the physical habits and standards outside of the school may result in the highest efficiency at home. Medical inspection, lighting, heating, Ventilating, seating, water supply, school buildings and general provisions-all play an important part in the hygienic conditions of the school. Each has a separate duty to fulfill and if not fulfilled, one factor has failed to perform its task. These things should be regarded as the most significant things that we can bring before the people. The schools in Mississippi have been greatly handicapped in securing the proper hygienic conditions, but the last few years have brought and are bringing abouta wonderful change in the practical application of hygiene to the rural school problems. Even though the hygiene of the schools and their surroundings be made perfect, this is not enough. For hygiene must, after all, become a matter of personal standards, and of the demands of the individual for the conditions that favor health and longevity. The above things mentioned will be the chief aims of the rural schools of the future, for they are the most concrete and important in education. Then it remains with us, the workers of the present, to determine when the cause of the rural hygienic condition shall triumph: for triumph it must sooner or later. D. P. COOLEY. 5