Hygienic Equipment
Not merely has the plan of the building been improved, but the equipment has also been thoroughly worked over. Drinking fountains or individual drinking cups have taken the place of the pail and the common dipper. Toilets have been furnished in a way which makes it possible to keep them clean and wholesome.
The matter of seats may be discussed from both points of view suggested in earlier paragraphs, that is, from the point of view of attention to the health and comfort of pupils and from the point of view of the work which pupils have to do in school. The old uncomfortable benches have given place to comfortable individual seats which, in the best-equipped schools, have been made adjustable so that they fit the individual pupil. Where this complete adjustment to individual size is not provided, at least an approximation is secured by seats of two or three heights in each room. Desks with broad, smooth, sloping tops have been added to make writing and other kinds of school work easy. The most recent improvements have to do with the storage of books and materials. Formerly the pupil’s knees were wedged below the storage drawer, or the working top of the desk was inconveniently or unhygienically high. The storage drawer is now being relegated to a position under the chair or to a locker on the side of the room.