Physical Education

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1906 edition. Excerpt: ... facilities for acquiring a symmetrical and healthful physical development. It was no part of its purpose to make the students athletic "performers," or semi-professional ball players, or abnormally " strong men." Yet the work of the gymnasium does connect itself naturally and closely with the matter of college sports and competitive games, and before leaving this part of our subject I wish to consider how these games can be so regulated and managed as to do the greatest good to the greatest number and prove an aid and not a hindrance to the general cause of education. To those who have given the subject little thought this may seem a simple thing to do, but it is one of the most difficult problems our school and college authorities have to solve. Just why this is so cannot be fully stated within the limits of this chapter. Some of the difficulties, however, may be briefly summarized. 1. The peculiar nature of many of these sports, the tendency being for all antagonistic games to exterminate themselves unless carefully protected by strict rules and regulations. 2. The natural tendency to professionalism and the accompanying decline of interest in amateur sports. This evil has been the bane of athletics from the time of the ancient Greeks to the present day. 3. The mercenary motives aroused by the pursuit of sport as a business instead of a recreation or a means of physical training, and the many evils of betting. 4. The prominence given to athletics by the public press. 5. The attitude of educators and distinguished men in regard to them. 6. The attitude of the young men themselves. Did space permit, it would be instructive to take up these problems in order and consider the influence they have had upon the growth and character of...