If we are in earnest in this matter of the problem of poverty, we must hasten to equalize opportunity, and having begun with the unborn child, continue our work in the school. We must seek to make the school a preparation for life and endeavour to build up, out of the new generation, citizens who understand, and who, understanding, will see to it that they remain not poor.
In the first place, we have to attend to the child's body. Through the school we can see that the child is properly clothed and properly fed. Through the school we can teach the child to understand its physical nature and to respect it. In a certain class of trumpery novel, the "tubbing" Englishman is distinguished from the unclean foreigner. The simple fact is that the Englishmen who "tub" are quite exceptional specimens of their kind. Few of the 9,000,000 houses of the United Kingdom are provided with tubbing apparatus, and even the London County Council has lately built "model" cottages which contain no bath. We must change all that. The Germans are setting us the example of introducing shower baths into their public elementary schools, and all the children are bathed once a week. They soon get to enjoy it, and it is rarely that a child objects. Mr George Andrew, in his valuable report to the Scottish Education Department on the schools of Berlin and Charlottenburg,[44] says that in the poorer localities this weekly bath system is found to have an educational effect upon the parents. The mothers, influenced by the knowledge that their children's underclothing will be scrutinized, supply them with clean things. Thus even that least amenable of subjects, the parent, may be reached through the child.
In "Riches and Poverty" edition 1905, I wrote:—
"In the matter of school hygiene and the physical training of children, the introduction of the medico into the school is all-important. At present, proper hygienic inspection of our schools does not exist. Medical officers should be appointed both to see that school buildings are absolutely healthy and to care for the personal health of the pupils. Upon entering the school, the child should undergo a preliminary examination and from thence onward remain under the care of the school doctor. The preliminary examination would decide the question of fitness for normal instruction; defective children would be drafted into special classes."
In 1907 the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act made it the "duty" of local education authorities "to provide for the medical inspection of children immediately before, or at the time of, or as soon as possible after, their admission to a public elementary school" and the "power" of such authorities to make arrangements "for attending to the health and physical condition of the children." It is earnestly to be hoped that this "power" will be exercised; at present many authorities are blind to it. The reader may judge from a single example the importance of using the schools as a means of physical control and training. Dr Ralph H. Crowley, the Medical Superintendent of the Bradford Education Authority, conducted an inquiry into the physical condition of the school children of Bradford in 1907. The results make painful reading.
Let us begin with the "general condition" of the Bradford children. The examination as to cleanliness was made by observations of the head, ears, and neck, and by rolling up the sleeves of the children. The following approximate figures were arrived at:
CONDITION AS TO CLEANLINESS
| Number. | Per Cent. | |
| Clean | 10,000 | 22.2 |
| Somewhat dirty | 22,000 | 49.0 |
| Dirty | 11,500 | 25.5 |
| Very dirty | 1,500 | 3.3 |
I think we must agree with Dr Crowley that these figures "show a deplorable state of things." What is to be said of "home life" and "education," which between them fail to teach a child to be clean?
Here are some saddening details as to the condition of the heads of girls: