general school problem, for the open-air school, in addition to its direct ministry to the children involved, has become an educational laboratory where more natural and less formal methods have been used and where experiments and systems have been tried which are directed to the needs of children. Wherever there is an open-air school will be found a group of people who are deeply interested in the school problem and who are determined that the public schools shall be as rich and fruitful as it is possible for the community to make them. They believe that it should be impossible for any pupil to sit through the seven or eight years required of every child, with his handicaps undiscovered and unrelieved and his school experience impaired or negatived by the presence of remediable defects. The immediate purpose of the open-air school will be realized only when. all debilitated children now in the regular schools have a chance for fresh air, sufficient food, and a general hygienic life. The ultimate purpose is to keep the children from getting sick and anemic by emphasizing the rights of all to a sanitary and wholesome life. APPENDIXES. APPENDIX A. Social, economic, and hygienic conditions of 886 families of 1,062 open-air school pupils in 15 American cities. |