could answer John Bull in an altogether illuminating way are the ablest of our own school doctors. And it is unlikely, for various reasons, that they will undertake this task. This is why the mere looker-on has to attempt it.
It is of course necessary to have trained medical men to undertake the work of giving advice in (and treatment later probably through) the schools. This is so clear that it hardly needs to be emphasized at all. No trained nurse, no devoted mother, no clever teacher, no person in authority, can take the place of, or do the specific work of, a trained medical man or woman. And this special training is of course expensive, and those who receive it and give their services afterwards have, of course, a right to be paid at a reasonable rate.
But what does the phrase "a fully qualified school doctor" mean? Where are these "fully qualified" men to be found? The ablest and oldest school doctors know very well that they are not qualified—that they are only apprentices. [1] They also know
- ↑ An apprentice may, of course, be a great worker, a pioneer. The point is, not that his work is either great or small—the point is that at first it does not command money. He creates, among other things, its money value. Kohn examined the eyes of 10,000 children. His work is so valuable that no one can fully estimate it. But he got no money for it. He never got any. Dr. Kerr's work at Bradford was very valuable. His salary was extremely small.
