Communicable Diseases of Eye and Skin
EyeSkin
TrachomaOtherRingwormImpetigoScabiesFavusPediculosisMisc.Total
Cases found in school
Cases excluded from school
Cases treated in school
Cases instructed in school or evidence of treatment furnished
Number of treatments
Number of instructions

The story of noncontagious physical defects found and treated is set forth in the following table:

Table XIV

Medical Examination of School Children: Noncontagious Physical Defects Found and Treated, 1906

DefectsSchool ASchool BSchool C
FoundReported TreatedFoundReported TreatedFoundReported Treated
No.% of Total Defects FoundNo.% of Total Defects FoundNo.% of Total Defects FoundNo.% of Total Defects FoundNo.% of Total Defects FoundNo.% of Total Defects Found
Adenoids
Nasal breathing
Hyper-trophied tonsils
Defective palate
Defective hearing
Defective vision
Defective teeth
Bad nutrition
Diseased anterior cervical glands
Diseased posterior cervical glands
Heart disease
Chorea
Pulmonary disease
Skin disease
Deformity of spine
Deformity of chest
Deformity of extremities
Defective mentality
Total

The effect of a report telling what schools have enough seats, proper ventilation, adequate medical inspection, safe drinking water, ample play space, and what schools are without these necessities is to cause the reader to rank the particular school that he happens to know; i.e. he says, "School A is better equipped than School B; or, School C is neglected." County and state superintendents in many states have acquired the habit of ranking schools according to the number of children who pass in arithmetic, algebra, etc. It would greatly further the cause of public health and, at the same time, advance the interest of education if state superintendents would rank individual schools, and if county superintendents would rank individual schools, according to the number of children found to have physical defects, the number afflicted with contagious diseases, and the number properly treated.

It is difficult to compare one school with another, because it is necessary to make subtractions and divisions and to reduce to percentages. It would not be so serious for a school of a thousand pupils as for a school of two hundred, to report 100 for adenoids. To make it possible to compare school with school without judging either unfairly, the state superintendent of schools for Connecticut has made tables in which cities are ranked according to the number of pupils, average attendance, per capita cost, etc. As to each of these headings, cities are grouped in a manner corresponding to the line up of a battalion, "according to height." A general table is then shown, which gives the ranking of each city with respect to each important item. Applied to schools, this would work out as follows:

Table XV

Table of Ranking-Schools Arranged Alphabetically

SchoolRank in
RegisterDefects FoundChildren Needing TreatmentChildren TreatedChildren not Treated
A10111112 6
B2022222412
C3033303618