danelaw it seems i hardly see them anymore when school is the right kind of a place it's such a pleasure to watch them go our school is the right kind people with a purpose that's what makes the school the right kind of a place that whether our children are reading or painting or learning about heralds are other activities blend together into a single unified program and we parents know that because of it our children about children are getting a chance to grow and develop for effective living now and in the future but we haven't always understood how important physical education is in this program and there was a time when we didn't understand that even the youngest children need help and guidance in their physical activity just as they do in their other study maybe we wouldn't understand it now or if something happened happened five years ago something that began right in my own family when i was just ten years old i knew that i growing child needs to learn how to handle on sound but nobody was teaching paul he wasn't a happy child at all i couldn't put my finger on what was wrong but i wasn't alone there were a few people in our p t a who had noticed that something was rocking in our school and who had been trying to do something about it but it seems that they were in the minority those years ago education class position to help me set it right well isn't it a matter of scheduling more physical education very dull or something like that not quite it's a matter of finding the right people to put a real physical education program into effect let me explain myself a little for teachers here are fine people they're well trained educated but they haven't had special preparations for physical education a that we've never gotten anywhere may i offer you a suggestion perhaps you could open up this whole question again at the p t a because i have an idea when parents truly understand what physical education is really about they'll see to it that the right kind of a program gets community support how can i count on your help i will say again if there's one thing  man like to see it is boy getting the right breaks when it comes to growing up my husband was run does he not only organized a special meeting about p t s d but he talked up the subject whenever he could with other five and it was his idea to have frank davis the high school physical education teacher come in and give us a professional point of view about physical education and what the point is we don't have an adequate physical education program in any of our schools we see a great many children come into high school without even the basic physical skills running jumping throwing in the light and we can't do much to help the way w a child is to make the most of themselves then i will need direction and physical activity and a program that's organized with every type of youngster in mind you just can't turn children loose to play if you expect them to learn to work together play by the rules and build strong bodies in the elementary school particularly the classroom teachers shouldn't be expected to do all this by themselves they need the counsel of the physical educator who is a specially trained for the job someone who can supervise instruct help plan and point out the role of physical education in the children's life someone to encourage and help this person should be a graduate of a regular and it wasn't too long before our p t a together with other groups in the community that were interested in school problems after school board to take action that action took the form of obtaining more qualified help at the high school level additional professionally trained teachers and physical education were employed to assist in both the boys and girls high school prizes this meant my room in the schedule for a new activity it also meant that now or for the first time mr davidson self was free to take responsibility for the direction of the entire physical education program one of his first step was to secure the services of a consultant in physical education someone who would work in our elementary school pals with the individual attention she was able to give to the pupils and the help she was able to give to teachers conducting demonstrations happening to plan activities and the like we parents began to realize that our children would have their chance to grow and develop as children should and that's what is and has been happening ever  way over the years that a parent can get an inkling of what's going on and even the world tells us no one really can except the children themselves when they're too busy growing up but the movements you see your children doing in the early grades skipping hopping imitating animals and the like are more meaningful than they might appear this is not just turning them loose to play it's not their teachers call rhythmic activity and it's part of an overall program that will continue even in their college years if you could follow these rhythmic activities from grade to grade you would see coordination develop before your eyes as the children go body and of personality that are so important to every young person success and happiness in life and if you could watch your children through years of activity on playground and gymnasium aberrated you would know that this is not just a device that busy teachers sometimes use to keep children's getting into mischief these are what they call surf testing activity and they too have a definite purpose in physical education programs all the way from first grade into college they are designed to my children find out for themselves just what progress they are making in mastering the skills of body control for it is through such activities that the the children learn to watch for their own strengths and weaknesses and strive for better performances day after day year in and year out it all happened so fast the parent hardly knows that anything is going on but they are growing in many directions and if you could somehow condense the whole range of stuff testing activities into a few moments you could almost see that growth taking place you could see her agility strengthen insurance come to life under proper supervision you can see how they do learn to handle themselves when there's someone around who is qualified to teach you could see how getting better at things becomes part of their way of looking at life this is the real meaning of self testing activity and suppose you could put many years of games and sports activities before your eyes in a matter of a few seconds you would know that this is so much more than just play or keeping them busy for a game they're as much a part of education as learning how to read and write even the simplest games are learning experiences for the very young children and as the games become more advanced they current to play more and more of the skills that children have learned in other parts of their physical education where from their rhythmic activities come timing and coordination  from self testing come to sense of balance strength and durrance and the ability to do things with their body that more vigorous games demand it's not easy for a parent to see the full meaning of all the games children play at school and everything happened so fast as the years go by there's hardly time to ask questions but if you could watch a well directed physical education program in action you'd see that the games are talked so that all of the children regardless of size or physical type or particular talents get a chance to play in a good physical education program their activities are intended to set up a spirit of team play that will be useful to the children in later life wherever they are in college at work and community recreation programs these children will be ready to pull their own weight as members of the team but games are even more important than we parents realize because they are social activities and they must be played with others according to rules that are the same for all in many cases for boys and girls alike think of what learning about the rules of play means to a young man or woman who must learn accept responsibilities and learn about the rules of work going to daily life games are educational experiences because they are one of the most important ways children have of finding out what it takes to live with other people to win to lose to compete gradually through games they discover the meaning of good sportsmanship fair play equal opportunity ideals or go far beyond the playground and their significance for american games are just a matter of keeping children and neither is what the children do in schools where swimming is part of the curriculum a child doesn't learn to swim in a day or week or a month it takes years of training and practice but if you could telescope it all into a few seconds you would know how important it is to begin when they are young and to follow through with skilled instruction are along the line see how confidence develops as they take to the water and learn basic stroke you'd see how basic strokes provide the background for program you can be sure that they are getting every chance to grow and develop some of them may grow up to be the kind of athlete everybody looks up to men and women who keep setting new standards of performance in every kind of physical i'm glad we found that out and as i look at our children growing coca i often wonder how many towns have not made out of physical education as a community responsibility it depends on many people