# 1901-1902

# 1902-1903

1903-1904

Grades 9-15

##### 1901-1902

## 1902-1903

1903-1904

FOOTNOTES:

[8] _The Sanitation of Public Buildings_, by William Paul Gerhard,
contains a valuable discussion of how the school may avoid manufacturing
physical defects.

[9] By Professor Lila V. North, Baltimore College for Women, for the New
York Committee on the Physical Welfare of School Children, 105 East 22d
Street, New York City.

CHAPTER XV

THE TEACHER'S HEALTH

"Teachers, gentlemen, no less than pupils, have a heaven-ordained right
to work so adjusted that the highest possible physical condition shall
be maintained automatically." This declaration thundered out by an
indignant physician startled a well-meaning board of school directors.
The teacher's right to health was, of course, obvious when once
mentioned, and the directors concluded:

1. School conditions that injure child health also injure teacher
health.

2. Poor health of teacher causes poor health of pupil.

3. Poor health of pupil often causes poor health of teacher.

4. Adequate protection of children requires adequate protection of
their teachers.

5. Teachers have a right to health protection for their own sake
as well as for their children's sake.

Too little concern has hitherto been shown for the vitality of teachers
in private or public schools and colleges. Without protest, and without
notice until too late, teachers often neglect their own health at home
and at school,--recklessly overwork, undersleep, and undernourish; ruin
their eyes, their digestion, and their nerves. School-teachers are
frequently "sweated" as mercilessly as factory operatives. The time has
come to admit that a school environment which destroys the health of
the teacher is as unnecessary and reprehensible as an army camp that
spreads typhoid among a nation's defenders. A school curriculum or a
college tradition that breaks down teachers is as inexcusable as a gun
that kills the gunner when discharged. Experience everywhere else
proves that periodic physical examinations and health precaution