Physical Education

Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)

by physicai education or physical training is meant that part of education which deals with the physical activities of mankind. It includes in its scope gymnastics, drill, athletic games and outdoor sports as these are used to develop the sound body. Nowadays we are returning to The the Greek conception of physical train- Silu- ing; in Greece education in music and The in gymnastics was compulsory as the ranges best known training for the body and Norway, the will. Among the Romans military long. training and life in the camp supplied whatever physical education was necessary, for the Romans were essentially a practical people. In the Middle Ages emphasis on the ascetic life prevented any great interest in the perfecting of the body, always excepting the impetus given by chivalry to the need of training for the knight at arms. The Renaissance renewed interest in the body: and in the humanistic literature of the times there are many allusions to phy sical education for the gentleman. But the training was still very largely confined to exercise in arms and horsemanship. In the eighteenth century a new conception is added by Rousseau, who in Emile (1762) urges the policy of making the child a healthy animal before starting to train his mind. In 1774 modern physical education may be said to have begun when Basedow founded his Philanthropinum at Dessau and introduced daily physical exercises for all students under the direction of a competent instructor. In the second decade of the nineteenth century Friedrich Ludwig Jahn started the popular Turnverein movement in Germany, modeling his system on that of the Greeks with the athletic spirit left out. The famous Swedish gymnastics owe much to the Lings, father and son, whose work covers the period from 1814 to 1815. In England in the nineteenth century nearly all the emphasis was laid on sports and games. "In physical education," as the great authority Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, of Harvard, writes, "America has become the battle ground upon which Old World theories are being fought over again." In the early pioneer days of this country there was little need of atintention to physical education; but as at the country developed systems were introduced. Thus in the thirties we find the military academies of Captain Alden Partridge in Norwich (Vt.) and Middletown ( Conn.) A little later Jahn gymnastics were introduced, and then the Swedish system became popular. Probably in the United States physical education has been more developed than in any other country, although America has originated very little in the way of physical exercises, the Indian game of lacrosse and the game known as "bean bag" of Dr. Dio Lewis being her chief contributions. In our schools it may be said with truth that physical education is still in its infancy. v. The American public was aroused to the need of paying more attention to bodily exercise by reason of the large number of men examined and rejected under the draft laws during the war. The system usually followed in our schools was that of German or Swedish gymnastics without, however, either adequate equipment or expert instruction. Of late several States have passed laws providing for compulsory physical education in our schools and a bill is now before Congress "for the promotion of physical education in the United States through co - operation with the States in the payment of supervisors and teachers of physical education. " Supporters of this bill (known as the Fess-Capper Bill) assert that careful surveys in all parts of the country prove that at least half the youngsters of America have some kind of physical defect and that all will profit inding by training in effective, body building physical activities. In our colleges and universities much attention is now being given to physical training, usually though not always to be distinguished from athletics. The pioneer in this work, Dr. Dudley A. Sargent, began at Bowdoin College in 1869 his system of measurements of students which he afterward developed at Harvard University and which has had such influence on gymnastic work in all of our institutions. Through this system he introduced corrective gymnastics which have done so much for the physical improvement of American can youth. To-day nearly every American college requires the completion of a certain amount of work in physical training for the degree; and in many institutions the work is graded as in other courses. In progressive colleges the program consists not by any means of gymnastics alone, but also of games and athletic sports. There is still a lack of properly equipped teachers; but professional training is now being given at such stitutions as the Y. M. C. A. College Springfield, ( Mass.) and in many of the universities. Many excellent women teachers are also being trained at Dr. Sargent ent's school in Cambridge. Physical education is by no means confined to colleges and schools. The public gymnasium for people of all classes is becoming more and more common; and in public playgrounds also, particularly in the larger cities, there are classes for men and women as well as for boys and girls. In the army and navy much attention is given to setting up exercises and other calisthenic work. Much progress has been made lately in the study of theory not only, but also of practice. There is a society for the Advancement of Physical Education which holds annual meetings and which since 1885 has published annually a volume of proceedings. The American Physical Education Review (1896) is published at Springfield (Mass). Among the colleges the interests of physical education are furthered by the National Intercollegiate Athletic Association and by an association of college teachers of physical training. Physical education occupies an important place in all public health programs both State and National. With the massing of population in the cities and the substitution of machinery for human labor it is inevitable that more attention must be paid to physical education in the future than in the past; for it is a most direct and vital contribution not only to physical but to intellectual and moral progress. The study of physical exercises in connection with the anatomy and physiology of the body has shown that exercise has an important place in medicine in the restoration of health and the correction of deformities. The modern use of massage as a means by passive exercise of assisting the circulation and the nutrition of the body is closely connected with the Swedish system of physical education and has been most developed in that country. The Zander system of passive exercise by means of apparatus set in motion by power is also an outgrowth of the Swedish system, and has roved to be of much service. Physical education has a special place a part as of military training. The object is not strength, but the rather development agility of, endurance muscular and co - ordination. In addition marching fencing, wrestling and setting, skating up drills, swimming, boxing, molecule as a unit, whereas and all sorts of outdoor games are useful. Marching is regarded as the most important; it is also the most exhausting owing to the weight of the pack, and good marching is attained only by careful preparation. In the United States physical education has been slow in development and we have adapted the exercises and games developed elsewhere. Lacrosse, which was played by the North American Indians, is the only game originating in the United States. Follen and Lieber, who were pupils of Jahn and expelled from Germany in 1825 in the reaction which followed the war of liberation, came to Boston and first introduced the German methods. This primary movement was short-lived, but the introduction of the Swedish system into Boston by Baron Nils Posen had more permanent results. Through the liberality of Mrs. Hemenway the Boston Normal School of Gymnastics was founded in 1889 to provide for the instruction of teachers of physical education for the schools, and the system was introduced into the public schools of the city in 1890. Eight States, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, Nevada, Rhode Island, California, Maryland and Delaware , have now passed laws making physical education obligatory in all the schools. It has been most developed in the Gary school, where 24 per cent. of the time in the elementary grades is devoted to it, with a proportionately diminished time in the higher grade. Vol. VII-Cyc There is great difficulty, owing to the great number of students in the public schools and the inadequacy of the teaching force in adapting the system to the needs of the individual child, which should be done if the best results are to be attained. Gymnastic drills of advantage to the bodily development of great a vigorous child would be found too strenuous for a weak, imperfectly developed child of the same age. As far as possible all school exercises should be out of doors and games should play an important part. Under the proper conditions rational systems of physical education, both for children and adults, will lead to a higher degree of physical perfection and an increase in health and happiness.