p. 16 | Open Air Schools

Pacific Press Publishing Association · Mountain View, California · Oct 15, 1912

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 39, No. 40.

Open Air Schools.

A document from the International Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis states:

"With the opening of the fall school term, over 200 open air schools and fresh air classes for tuberculous and anemic children, and also for all children in certain rooms and grades, will be in operation in various parts of the United States, according to a statement published to-day by the National Association for the Study and Prevention of Tuberculosis.

"All of these schools, the association says, have been established since January, 1907, when the first institution of this character was opened in Providence, Rhode Island. On January 1, 1910, there were only 13 open air schools in this country, and a year later the number had increased only to 29. Thus, the real growth in this movement has been with the last two years.

"Massachusetts now leads the states with 86 fresh air schools and classes for tuberculous, anemic, and other school children, Boston alone having over 80. New York comes next with 29, and Ohio is third with 21. Open air schools have now been established in nearly 50 cities in 19 different states."

The value of fresh air can not be overestimated; and if Massachusetts, New York, and other Eastern States, with their rigid winters, can have open air schools and open air classes, there should certainly be no difficulties in this respect for those who live in the milder climates of the Pacific slope and the Southern States. The education on the value of fresh air and pure foods should be pushed forward with vigor; for with plenty of proper foods properly cooked and properly eaten, and an abundance of pure air, the greater part of the physical ills of the human family would vanish.