SCHOOL AND CHILDRENS HEALTH

A roundtable discussion involving 2 educationists and 4 pediatricians with widely varying experience sounded out the negative (pathogenic) a nd positive (salutogenic) influences to which a child is exposed in sc hool and which decisively shape his/her physical, mental and psychic d evelopment. Concrete case reports and a systematic compilation of harm ful factors show that this institution poses major threats to children 's health of which pediatricians should be aware. An important cause o f childhood suffering is the discrepancy between the uniform and infle xible institutional structures and the variability of children's needs conditioned by biology and social origin. Between ideal visions and t he consequent school structures on the one hand, and social reality on the other hand, there are notable contradictions which must be recogn ized, lived with and - if possible - resolved by reforms. If he believ es in the reformability of school, the pediatrician can make essential contribution to promoting health during school age.