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4-1763 THE WO R K S PROGRAM --Works Pro gress Administration-- For Release to Newspapers Sunday, Sep temb er 18, 1938. WPA SCHOOL AID PROGRAM TO BMCH MORE THAN 1,000,000 CHILDREN Mor e than a million school childr0n will benefit this year through various heal th and educational measur es prov ided for them by the Worl:s Progress Administration, Adminis trator Harry L. Hopki ns sa id today. For many, it will mean the difference "be tween a tt ending or not attending school. In practically ev ery state, Mr . Hopkins sa i d , n ee dy children are being given physical check-ups, dental exa.:minations a nd s ight and hearing t ests which th ey othervtisc would not have . Phys ical and. constitutional ailments will b0 dis cover ed in thousand.s of cases whi ch might otherwise progress to the a.anger point, and treatment pro vided for . Other thousands will be immunized against communicable dise~ses . At the same time , plans for r es1.,ming s chool lunch programs are under way w~th renewed vigor, with IBany communi t i es prepar ed to support their programs on a more stable, ycar--round basis. In many places com- munity gardens operated by WPA workers hav e been harv,, sted , and the produce cal".ned. or preserved against the time it will school childr en this winter. ·be needed to feed hungry WPA sewing ro oms have accumulated quantiti es of warm clothing -- coats, sweaters, dr es ses , suits, etc. -- which will be distributed soon. And in thousa nds of schools, many of which are themselv es the product of WPA l tr,\Wtfz~d we course of l earning will be oWJ'\tiiaPfMtf? lY easier NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY - 2 - 4-1763 this year because of new facili ti cs which the '\VPA has provided , New recreation and playground equipment has been installed in many places. Others have acquired libraries or had old ones improved by cataloging and book repairs . Many will be brightened by the additions of pic tur es , murals and sculpture provided by the art projects. Visual education aids -- graphi c presentation by means of charts, pictographs, dioramas, etc . -will facilitate instruction in hundreds of schools. 11 The WPA has be en a powerful prop to education in many com- munitions which have had to economiz e during recent years, siad. 11 Declining 11 Mr. Hopkins revenues have caused mar.y state ancl local education bodies to make drastic reductions in their bud.ge ts. In hundreds of communiti es all but the most essential functions have been dropped, and school children have suffered in consequence, 11 In r eestablishing these functions the WPA has not only helped • the cause of educa tion in maintaining its advances of the lB,st decade, but frequently has ext ended them. For eyample , educators hav e long recognized that undernourished children are among the most backward in their claoses. Practically ev er y school has its quota of needy children who do not get enough nourishing food at ho~e. Their plight , in most cases, was simply one of the pa:i:·a.do:x:es about which nothing could be done, 11 In the last two years, however , the V:PA haG prepared and served approximately 125,000,000 nourishi!1g, hot lunc:hes to ne edy school children all over the country, The r esalts have been spectacular. Not only has the health of these children improved, but so has the quality of their work. It has actually be en the determining factor in whether or not many of them would be able to attend school at all. 11 Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1763 - 3 - Mr. Hopkins said that he had been as sur ed by Ellen S. Woodward, Assistant Administrator in charge of women's and prof essional proj ects, that the school lunch program would continue undiminished during the coming school year. Approximately $6,750,000 in Federal funds was spent on this work last y ear, giving employment to nearly 15,000 women in the preparation and handling of food. The program will b e conduct ed this year on a commensurat e scal e . Hundreds of schools throughout ths country, particularly in rural regions, have no medical service other than that supplied by the WPA. Working cooperatively with state and. local boards of heal th, doctors and nurses are supplied many of these schools on either a full-· or parttime basis to render superficial medical c::1re , conduct physical examina-- tions and give simple instru.ction in health and hygiene . In the last two years more than 940,000 school-age children wer e given medical examinations through the WPA ancl 550 ,000 wer e immuniz ed. against communicabl e diseases . An int eresting phase of t hi s work consists in giving t es ts for hearing deficiencies. Such defici enci es, if discovered in time, often can be treated to prev ent dea fn ess i n lat er lif e . In New York City alone more than 1,000 , 000 such tests have b Gen given school children in the last thr ee yea1·s by W-J?A workers. By repeating the t ests at stated intervals, develo pment of hearing deficienci es can be noted and proper treatment preccribed. Projects related to school libraries operate in m~ny communities, both urban and rural. Book repair projects have saved schools hundreds of thousands of dollars in prolonging th$ life not only of library volumes but of text books as well . The Chicago Board of Educa- tion announced loi~il:i,ecfl.ta¥:; t week that WPA workers had ~ ma.I fme city an NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 4-1763 - 4 - estimated $100,000 in the last three year s through the salvage of approximately 450,000 damaged and discarded text books . Experi enc ed library work- ers have be en f ound on WPA rolls to direct the work of ca taloging and gener a lly increasing tho us efulness of school librari es. Many isolated schools get their only library service through traveling libraries -- by mail, truck and even horseback -- operated. by the WP.A.. The use of visual aids to teaching is a relatively new field in which the WPA has done a considerable amount of exploring . It is recog- nized that many people learn more quickly through what they see than what they read or hear. Hence, some subjects which are u.nassimilable whe!1 pre- sented in the conventional school r oom manner are quickly understood when offered in graphic form. WPA workers in many locali Ues have pre})ared a great number of charts, posters, diorrunas and other ingenio·ils devices for this purpose . In a few states, California in particvlar, the pr 0paration of these visual a ids has been extended to the poi nt of r:: i-ea ting portabl e museums . Exhibits dep icting the early life of the state, of its pr incipal industries, its population groupc and its sever::-,1 ~oc:i.al anrl economic prob lems are sent various schriols in rotation, wher8 they have oeen declared of great value in imparting real ity to subjects formerly conaidered too compl ex for the ordinary scho ol child I s understand5.ng. Sev eral other states are expected to copy this plan during the present year. ---0000 0 --- Digitized by Original from NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
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