[Report 1949] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough.
- Smethwick (Worcestershire, England). County Borough Council.
- Date:
- 1949
Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
Credit: [Report 1949] / School Medical Officer of Health, Smethwick County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![Q in llu‘ past, noi' so inan_\ ;is ihcv will Ik.' in llu- t’ninre. because' llie lalliiii^' birth rate' has not )'et been C()in])ensate(l in numbers 1))’ the' increase in the aifcel. It wKjuld, therefore, ap])ear sound common sense and i^'ood economics to ensure that the children for whose care we are now responsible should re'ceiv'e' the best [)ossible attention, and tluit every et'bn't should be made to ensure that as lar as it is humanly ])(>ssible. thev will bc' ])erfect specimens of manhood and \vomanh(3(al when thev enter the l<ab(nir imirket. ddieir burdc'n wall be t^'reater than anv CiKumunity in this country has ever shouldered in the past. This is neither sentiment nor sentimentalit)'. The hard bittt'ii industrialist with his valuable lathes and machine tools will take care that they are not ne.ttlected, that they do not rest in the open, or that they fail to receive the constant attention which kee]>s them at the highest pitch of efficiency, d'he industrialist, however, buys his steel tools; he hires his human ones, but in the eixl he pays the full cost for both, and the human tool on lirst entering industry is the most expensive tool to produce in most factories, and its production the most prolonged. In spite of the multiplying advances in science which have bewildered us during the past 250 years, since first we began to sink into our modern civilisation, it has never been found possible and it never will be found possible to produce a human tool in less time than was necessary a million years ago. It has been known for many years that the standard of nutrition, physique and sturdiness of the Public School child has been greater dian that of the average elementary school child and it is equally obvious that it is an economic t)roposition for the country to ensure that the rising generation of childrer from whatever grade of society they spring, shall be provided with evervlhing that is necessarv to enable them to attain the maximum degree of health and sturdiness which is at present available to tiie most sheltered group. Successive Ministries of ld)od have done more to further this object than the entire medical profession, and the rationing system which was brought into operation in this country in the early months of the war has laid the foundation of dietar)- habits which one trusts will long continue in use when the war has been forgotten. ddie idea to which we wash to work in the School ITealth vService is to render our services unnecessary. Only a generation ago mo-st of the work of the School Health Service was carried out b\' doctors and school nurses. Xow the most important part is carried out by other members of the Ifducalion Committee’-- stat'f, and we look forward to the time when the Suiiervisor of Meais, the Phvsical 1'raining Instructors, and the Superintendent nf the School Canqis will be the chief agents by whom we mamt'im the health ol our children m its optimum Pjrm. When that da\' arrua'S ])('rha])s school nurst'S will be unnecessary, and](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b30091561_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
