p. 13 | Fresh Air in Winter by G. H. Heald, M. D.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Jan 1, 1914

Fresh Air in Winter

By G. H. Heald, M. D.

G. H. Heald, M. D.

(Editor Life and Health)

THERE is great ado nowadays about employing children in factories and the industries, the contention being that this works ill to the child physically and mentally, and perhaps morally. Children brought up in the mines, the sweatshops, the factories, the canneries, are stunted and anemic, and have no preparation for their future life upon which they can depend to better their condition. This is undoubtedly a wrong to the child, and the efforts made to do away with this condition are praiseworthy.

But how about the children who are permitted, or, rather, compelled, to attend school? Are school life and school discipline the best calculated for the physical, mental, and spiritual welfare of the child? While we are attempting to abolish the injustice done children in the industries, is there not something we can do for them in the schools?

The Philadelphia medical school inspector who performed an experiment in order to determine the effect of fresh air upon children, has rendered a lasting service to the growing generation. He chose in one school two rooms similarly situated, containing healthy pupils of the same age and grade, and as near alike as possible in every particular. One of the rooms he subjected to the ordinary school ventilation and heating. In the other he threw the windows wide open throughout the school year, and allowed no heat turned on unless the temperature fell below forty-five degrees. The children were of course well provided with extra wraps.

From week to week during the entire school year the physician kept track of the weights, general health, progress in study, etc., of the pupils in the two rooms. At the close of the year careful comparison showed that the open-air pupils had gained twice as much in weight as the others, and had been entirely free from colds, had been much more regular in attendance than the others, and had been quicker to learn, freer from daydreaming, and better behaved; in fact, they showed superiority in every way; and yet at the beginning of the year one could not have made a choice between the rooms.

This open-air system, which has done so much for anemic pupils and those in the incipient stage of tuberculosis, has been shown by this experiment to be the ideal method for normal, healthy pupils.

How long must it be before schools all over the country — public schools and church schools — adopt what has proved to be of such marked benefit to the pupils?

Will the teachers profit by the hint given by this experiment and do justice to their pupils, or will they follow the precedent and the crowd, and let the children suffer in stuffy rooms for a few years longer?

Parents, why not bring this matter to the attention of the teachers of your children, and thus help on in the good cause and render your own children a great service?

There is another suggestion for parents: Is your ventilation in winter what it ought to be? We know it is in summer; but do you in winter attempt to economize in your fuel bill by shutting out the fresh air? If you do, you are taking just so much out of the lives of your children.