THE HEALTH OF SCHOOLCHILDREN.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR."] Sia,—In your issue of June 8th you publish a most interesting letter from Major Nobbs, entitled "A Food Truth Offensive." At the beginning of this year I took advantage of my position as Head-Mistress of an Elementary School (a small one in a poor agricultural district) to prove, by figures, my belief that the health of my children had improved during the war. I found that my boys' average gain in weight was thirty-seven per cent. greater, and the girls' ten per cent, greater, during 1917 than during 1918. (The discrepancy between the respective weights of boys and girls is due, I think, to the fact that girls usually gain in weight more quickly than boys.) I got my results only from children who had been with me at least two-years—and all of them—twelve boys and twelve girls. These results are, of course, only interesting to the parents and to me, but if similar results could be obtained from all schools in all counties the subject would be of national (and perhaps international) interest. I suppose every Local Education Authority has its own scheme for medical inspection of school- children, and where a scheme exists records are made every year of weight, height, &e., of individual children. Therefore every Education Committee can demand from each of its Head-Teachers 'a simple statement such as I prepared; each Committee can com- bine such results and issue an average percentage, and these figures can again be pooled, and, if enough Local Authorities join in the scheme, the result will, I think, prove the well-being of the elementary-school children all over England. The comparison of results from town and country districts would be very interest- ing. If all English children are as well and vigorous as mine, I wish the Germans could know it. I think they would be tempted to scrap their 'U '-boats in despair.—I am, Sir, &c., VIOLET K. E. BIRRELL.
Hinton Ampner School, Alresford, Hants.
P.5.—The scheme would entail little work. Each Head-Teacher would find it would make a nice little series of arithmetic lessons for the upper standards, and I suppose a couple of clerks would make short work of the schools' results for each Committee, and the Board of Education would have the easiest task of all.
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