PHYSICAL TRAINING

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21229, 27 September 1940, Page 6

PHYSICAL TRAINING

Mr H. G. R. Mason’s announcement that the Education Department intends to make a forward move in the physical education of the children in all New Zealand schools will be warmly welcomed. For many years health has been in the forefront of the education policy of the country, and much has already been accomplished, but more remains to be done. The sooner it is attempted the sooner will the physical standard of the people reach the plane that it should reach in a country so well favoured by Nature. It is in the formative school years of everyone’s life that the foundations for good physical health must be laid. Because human nature is what it is, the objective is much more likely to be achieved in the school than in the homes.

One of the chief difficulties in the past has been in providing suitable instructors. A thoroughly good teacher in book learning may be a very poor physical instructor. Clearly it is a task for a specialist, and to provide all the schools with specialist instructors costs money and takes time. But if the Minister has now discovered a method by which beneficial training can be imparted, and which will lift the physical standard of the people of New Zealand, that method will be worth the expenditure of a large sum of money, and the expenditure will not be begrudged. Apart from the value to his country of the man who is physically strong and mentally alert, every child has as its birthright a chance to make the best of life, which is possible only with physical health. The movement towards improved physical health is world-wide, and New Zealand cannot afford to be left behind. Even some of the countries in the Old World which were commonly supposed to be far inferior to such countries as New Zealand as far as human physique was concerned, have performed wonders in recent years. Thougi perhaps with an ulterior motive, Germany uplifted the phys.cal quality of its youth to a remarkable degree, until it went too far and “ overtrained ” its boys and girls with serious results. There the training was aimed at the final objective of war, and the whole scheme became vicious, both mentally and physically. Physical training aimed at useful health is another matter, and New Zealand would be wise to make every effort to achieve it. It is possible thus to give the lie direct to foreign charges of decadence in the British race.