An Expert Discusses Physical Education In The States

New Zealand Listener, Volume 4, Issue 95, 18 April 1941, Page 9

An Expert Discusses Physical Education In The States

from a distance, sometimes appear to be rending the fabric of American life, the youth of America is a strong and stable democratic influence. This is the opinion of Philip Smithells, Superintendent of Physical Education for the N.Z. Education Department, who has had more opportunity than many people of meeting and working among young Americans. In 1938, on a travelling scholarship, he toured 7,000 miles through the U.S.A. studying the training of D ESPITE the schisms which,

physical education teachers and general methods of physical education in colleges. He met hundreds of typical young college men and women, worked and _ lived among them, and gained what must have been a thorough insight into their lives. He admits that such generalisations are very often rash, and explains that America expresses itself in cults more often than in movements, but on the whole the statement is valid, he told a representative of The Listener, They Take It Seriously In his own specialised department of education, Mr. Smithells quotes remarkable examples of the vitality and general awareness of American youth. Physical education, for instance, has graduate status and is taught to that stage in

173 colleges in the U.S., ranging from small colleges to great institutions such as Yale, Haryard and Princeton. The Payne-Whitney Gymnasium at Yale demonstrates the seriousness with which the subject of physical education is tackled. The eight-story building houses ten gymnasiums, two huge ‘swimming pools, a running track, 28 squash courts, a whole floor devoted to wrestling, two floors for boxing, massage and remedial rooms, rowing tanks and locker rooms for 2,600 students. Not As in the Films Significant, Mr. Smithells points out, is the fact that this enthusiasm for health and fitness is spontaneous and democratic. But to gain any idea at all of American youth, Mr. Smithell,also points out, you have first of all to forget every. col-. lege boy film you have ever seen, They simply aren’t true. Take the attitude of young Americans to world affairs-an important subject in these days of lease and lend. In spite of the diversity of races and backgrounds, there appears to-him to be a remarkable unanimity of outlook. This is apparent most of all, perhaps, in their objective interest in the rest of the world, particularly Europe. They seem well-informed on facts and policies, and from their distance they often see contemporary events more clearly and in better focus than do the youth of Europe. Though their own democracy may have some weak spots in it, and they realise this, they believe absolutely in its principles. "Fed Up" With Graft Another healthy sign Mr. Smithells

noticed was that American youth is "fed up" with graft in politics and commercial life. Their whole attitude shows a militant desire for a better country and a better world, not so much in terms of "isms," but in basic values of life such as the liberty of the individual, cooperation, service, and _ international friendship. And these are the values on which they believe society must eventually be re-founded. Undoubtedly, says Mr. Smithells, sport and general physical education play a large part in inculcating this healthy state of mind. The American conception of the part sport plays in education is interesting. Whether at primary, secondary or university level, the American physical educationists have two main aims in their sport. The first is that every child shall learn some form of exercise, though excelling in some special form is the last thing required. The second is that every child shall learn, apart from the more active games, some form of exercise which will have a "carry-over" value. Games of violent bodily contact can be played for only a few years, and, as

an English doctor observed recently, nothing is more depressing than the decayed athlete, grown fat, dwelling on his past glories. American physical education takes care to stress also the value of long-term-investment sports such as tennis, golf, archery and volley-ball, Summer Camps Another health activity which is playing its part in developing and broadening the youth of America is the summer camp. Every summer literally millions of young people spend most of their vacations in pleasantly situated camps where they take part in organised outdoor recreation, camp and ‘woodcraft and light courses of nature study. The camps are heavily staffed, many training college and university Students adding to their income this way. Nearly all colleges insist that physical education specialists spend several vacations at such camps as part of their training. The’ youngsters who attend return home bronzed and fit, the more agile for their regulated exercise, richer in mind for having had such close communion with nature and the more sociable for having adapted themselves to group living undér simple conditions,