CHAPTER SEVEN

SANITATION AND HYGIENE

FRANK E. THOMPSON, B. A.

Professor of Education and Director, College of Education, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado

1. Importance. Health is the foundation of human happiness and national prosperity. The conservation of health should be the first duty of the school. Formerly little or no thought was given to the sanitary condition of school premises or to the health of the pupils, but such matters are now receiving wide attention. Medical inspection is required in the schools of large cities, and in many towns and villages so strong a sentiment in favor of public health has been created that measures taken for the sanitation of school premises by teachers and school officials receive universal approval. In most communities there is much that needs to be done to create and foster a sentiment in favor of better school sanitation. This chapter has for its purpose placing before teachers and officers suggestions and directions for bringing about this much desired result. In making the suggestions which follow we have had due regard for the expenditure the improvements will require, and we have tried in all cases to suggest only such changes. as can be made without unduly taxing the community. In many districts undesirable conditions are due more to the fact that the attention of the patrons has not been called to them than to lack of funds. A wide-awake teacher going into such a community can often by tact and perseverance work a radical change for the better and in so doing merit the gratitude of the entire district.

THE SCHOOL SITE

2. Location. The teacher seldom has anything to do with the location of the school but it occasionally happens that when a new schoolhouse is to be built a change of location is advisable. The old site may be in the midst of undesirable surroundings, it may be insanitary, or larger grounds may be desirable. It is always well for the teacher to understand the requirements that a desirable school site should meet. The more important considerations are:

(a) CHARACTER OF THE SOIL. The character of the soil bears an important relation to the healthfulness of the site. A clayey soil should be avoided because clay retains water and makes the place damp and unhealthy. A site containing a large proportion of alluvium is also liable to be unhealthy because of dampness and of the gases given off by the decaying vegetable and animal matter it contains. A site containing soil having a mixture of loam and sand is the most desirable. Such a soil drains readily and is sufficiently fertile to grow shrubs, trees and plants, and to enable the pupils to make a success of the school garden.

(b) WATER SUPPLY. Every school should have an abundant supply of pure water. The source of this supply will depend largely upon the locality. A deep spring or a well sunk into a layer of sand or gravel are the best sources, provided they are so located that they are free from contamination from surface water, such as seepage from barnyards and privies occupying higher elevations. The water supply is often overlooked until the site is fixed upon, and then water has to be obtained at considerable expense.

(c) DRAINAGE. A school should not be located on low land, because such land can seldom be properly drained, and wet grounds are undesirable and unhealthful.

(d) DESIRABLE SURROUNDINGS. A school should not be located near a barnyard, a piggery, a factory, nor in any place whose surroundings would be objectionable to a home. These matters are often overlooked by directors not because

they wish to place the school amid unpleasant surroundings, but because they have not given sufficient thought to the selection of a location.

1, school; 2, girls' lawn; 3, boys' campus; 4, experimental plots; 5, avenues and walks; 6, experimental plots; 7, pupils' plots; 9, forestry plot; 10, orchard; 11, garden shed.

(e) ACCESSIBILITY. Other things being equal, the school should be located where it is most easily accessible to all the patrons. The conditions named above, however, are of more vital importance than a central location. A suitable

site can usually be found near enough to all patrons to be satisfactory.

3. The School Grounds. The grounds of a rural school should not contain less than an acre, and two acres or more are better. There should be ample space for the schoolhouse, a front lawn, playgrounds for both boys and girls and a garden. But unless these features are brought to the attention of the patrons in such a way as to meet their approval, the directors will not feel warranted in making the expenditure for so large a site. In selecting the site for a school the district is projecting an enterprise that will extend far into the future and liberal provisions for growth should be made. There are but few districts that will object to an appropriation sufficient to purchase a site that will be large enough to conserve the best interests of the school.

(a) PLAN. The school grounds should be laid out by a competent landscape gardener or by someone who has had experience in such work. Probably no two sites lend themselves with equal advantage to exactly the same treatment. Local features should always be considered in making the plan. The following diagram is suggestive of what may be done under suitable conditions. It includes all the principal features we have mentioned and these should be held in mind in making any plan, but the location of the playgrounds and garden may be changed to meet the natural requirements of the site.

(b) DECORATIONS. In Chapter IV, The Schoolhouse and Grounds we have spoken of the effect of neat surroundings. Here we wish to consider means of beautifying the school grounds and of giving them a homelike appearance. call attention to the following features:

(1) The Lawn. Nothing adds more to the interest and beauty of school grounds than well-kept grass plots. Even if most of the space is needed for walks and playgrounds there are always little patches of soil on which the grass will grow and where it will relieve the barrenness of the

surrounding spaces. If the grounds are large a very considerable portion should be given up to a lawn as it will be found that many of the quieter games can be played thereon without injuring the grass, and those games in which there is much running along definite lines can be relegated to proper "fields" where they will work no injury.

(2) Trees, Shrubs and Vines. If the grounds are large a plan of decoration should be established that will provide for trees, shrubs, vines and flowers as a permanency. The best native shrubs are the sumac, dogwood, barberry, ninebark, elder, and leatherwood or moosewood. Not all of these are found in any one locality but some of them are common in almost every region. Among the hardy cultivated shrubs that are always satisfactory are the lilac, syringa, Tartarian honeysuckle, and currant. Of the vines, the Virginia creeper is one of the most pleasing not only for its graceful mode of growth but also because of the beauty of its foliage and berries in the fall. If vines are arranged so that they grow upon the school building it is well to train them over a wire netting or a frame, because they are apt to hold moisture and so to injure the building. Rapid growing vines are especially helpful in speedily concealing the unsightly wood-sheds and out-buildings which sometimes are so conspicuous on rural school grounds.

(3) Flowers. It is a mistake to give too much attention to the cultivation of flowers for the simple reason that they require more care than shrubs and trees and unless they are looked after they die or become unsightly. The long summer vacations interfere with their maturing and during the spring and winter the places they have occupied are unsightly masses of dirt. However, the rural schools have the advantage of being able to supply themselves with beautiful wild flowers which require little care and which blossom in the early spring or fall, and with ferns many of which remain a beautiful green throughout the entire season.