The need, objects, and method of the medical inspection of primary schools / by Ralph H. Crowley.

  • Crowley, Ralph Henry, 1869-
Date:
1907
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The need, objects, and method of the medical inspection of primary schools / by Ralph H. Crowley. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    should have a medical adviser. This appears to me a sine qua non, whatever further arrangements such authority may make for carrying out the more detailed duties. This proposition affirms the very important principle that all work done in connection with school inspection, be it of the schools themselves or of the children, should be at the instigation of and under the control of the Educa- tion Committee. Perhaps there is nothing of more impor- tance as regards our educational system at the present time than that the Education Committee should take an all- round view of its work and should come clearly to recognise that these matters are as closely connected with the educa- tion of the children as is the intellectual work which is looked upon as its special province. Coming now to the question as to upon whom this duty should fall, I believe we may deduce an obvious corollary from what I have already said, viz., that the education authority of each of the larger county areas and of each of the larger cities and boroughs should retain its own Education Medical Officer exclusively for school purposes. In these areas, at any rate, it would not be possible for the work to be adequately done by any existing Health Officer. In what one feels to be unanswerable confirmation of the opinion stated above, I would refer you, so far as the counties are concerned, to the most interesting report of Dr. T. Henry Jones to the Surrey Education Committee, published in full in the B.M.J. for February IT. 1906. The experience of Manchester, Newcastle, Bradford, and elsewhere confirms the opinion expressed in regard to the larger cities and boroughs. In the smaller county areas, or in towns of a less popu- lation than, say, 100,000 or 150,000, two courses are open, the work being undertaken either by the Medical Officer of Health or by a specially appointed medical officer, not necessarily, of course, a whole-time one. The one arrange- ment which is not permissible is that the work should be done by a man who merely ranks as an assistant to the Medical Officer of Health. I do not think that any law need necessar- ily be laid down on the question tvs to which of the above alternatives should be adopted. Probably one locality w ill favour one plan, and another another. Local considerations must inevitably play an important part; the existing Medical Officer of Health, for instance, may have his hands as full as lie wishes, or he may not be cut out for work of this kind. One thing, however, is obvious—that, whoever does the work, there w ill have to be a harmonious working between the Public