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Show H AN IMPROVEMENT WORTH WHILE MANY changes arc taking place in the methods of education, and in its scope and aims. To H a certain extent these arc experiments which m ' are being tried out, and while the departures which H prove beneficial will be retained, those which do not B will be discarded and something else substituted. On m the whole, we have the word of those giving their H life endeavors to the work, that great strides are be- B ing made, and certain it is that Utah is looked upon H by educators in other parts of the United States as H a leader in the matter of education. H We feel to comemnd the action of the School H Board in providing a public school nurse for the pub- B lie school children of this county, and to congratulate H them upon their choice for this position. In the pcr- H son of Miss Mary Giles we have a very competent H and conscientious official. This is a new departure H in school activities, but promises a great deal for the H , physical and mental development of society. Many H people have felt, (and we may confess that we have H to some extent shared the opinion) that the cxamina- H , lion of school chifdren was more or less of a fad, if H indeed, not prompted by professional men who hoped H to obtain patronage therefrom, since almost any doc- H , ' tor, dentist or optician is glad to make examinations H free, and it is the operations which call for an cx- Wm penditure of money. Further, that the average in- H telligent parent knew when anything serious was the H matter with his or her child, and would sec that it H received needed medical, surgical or dental attention. H But observation from an interested angle docs not H bear out this assumption. A case in point, which B brings the. matter home to us, was the report from H the public school nurse that one of our children had H enlarged tonsils, and required surgical attention. As H the child had given no history of sore throat, we paid H little attention to the matter. We would not question H that there was some foundation for the diagnosis, but M certainly it could not be anything serious, when the H child had not been a sufferer from her throat. H Only a few days later the child complained of H pains in her limbs, and showed unmistakable signs H of rheumatism, and we at once suspected that the H diseased tonsils were at the bottom of the trouble. H A doctor verified the diagnosis of the nurse, and the H tonsils were removed, in time to prevent the more H serious consequences to heart and other vital organs H which are known to result from this condition if ne- H glected. Small use is there in educating a child to H perform the duties of society, when a treacherous and H deadly disease gnaws at its vitals, with every prospect H of cutting off its career just as it is ready to assume H the responsibilities of life. A healthy body is the first H requisite to a useful career. H In other counties of the state, where public health H nurses are employed, they are discovering the prcs H ence of many cases of tuberculosis and other diseases H of which the afflicted ones themselves were totally H unaware. |