New-York tribune., 1906-12-12
PRESCRIBED SPORTS.

There Is no graVer matter agitating the world
to-day than the question, What is a proper col
lege sport: College authorities having solved
The puZZling difficulties of the curriculum and
fashioned 4 course Of studies which turns the
student out = polished and finished intellectual
product, are giving their attention TO the things
which form the other sides Of the students nat
ure So IL 10 make him a well rounded man.
They are trying 10 formulate d curriculum Of
sports which VIII make him as cultured physi-
cally and morally as the picking Of his way
among the mental pastures OF the university
10y election without divine grace'-makes
him intellectually. Child study is bearing its
fruit The caliperS of wisdom have not meas
ured the adOlescent Uranium in vain. The pin
prick test and the fatigue machine have caused
great searching of hearts over the results of
the ancient selt-conHdent systems Of education.
Play. il has been discovered, is the great
teacher. Then. are not educators negIecting
their opportunities If they allow play 10 slip
out Of their hands and 20 on unguded by su-
perlor knowledge Of the psychological adapta-
bility Of means 10 ends: Let US have the ferule
and the pointer Of the schoolroom presiding over
sport Unregulated play makes Jack bad boy
II Is with these considerations Ia mind that
the faculties Of the universities are giving their
attention 10 proper curriculum Of sports OBJ
viously a college youth may be trusted to third
and unrestrained except by his own appetite
for knowledge. But no such election should he
permitted regarding play. If the A B. degree
Is TO stand for anything definite It must signify
that the bachelor has wandered fancy free over
the fields Of science literature and art. sipping
ike a butterfly the flowers of culture on his
errant way, and that he has simultaneously mr.
sued course in sports free from the dissipa-
tions and temptations Of the elective system
firai- rln a. 1.,
lasSi's-mathematirs plan of mental training.
Who shall say whether bachelor under the
present haphaZard dspenSation has pursued
football or hockey, or baseball. or basketball or
tennis, or rowing or golf; or profiting by the
elasticity Of our present elective system of
sports, has chosen some soft snap" Ike fiddle
dewinhs or mumble-the-peg. and loafed his vav
10 his degree without the real educational ad-
vantases that spring from n proper course of
sports:
Or. Eliot, Of Harvard is q leader in this
great movement for ending the elective system
Of sports. as be was the leader In Introducing
the elective system Of studies. His university
has not Yet taken any definite action on the
sports curriculum, but DR. Eliot has not hest
tated TO show why certain sports should be ex-
cluded Every sport in which there is a posi-
blity of cheating should be prescribed as an
educator OF youth. Obviously the onnortunitieS
lectual side Of the bachelors training Such
chances as there are for cheating I'm recitationS
and prohting by cribs on examinations are
enough for a man, without his being endangered
by temptations 70 dishonesty IN sport. Football
is unmanly. rough full of opportunities for dis
honesty Basketball is just aS bad. Baseball
Is tricky and unsp0rtsmanlike and dangerous TO
the umpire How often in golf lie is a nel
Too many in the royal and antient game" i'm
peril their sonls by a surreptitlous choice be
tween cup and a tee, Tennis and row
lhs aF@ the only blaneless sports-the classics
ana mathematics Of the modern prescribed
course for the A p. Of play They are morally
I ana physically tonic The young man whose
character is iuperilled by the temptations Of
the classroom and the examination paper may
ieHrr +r.H tennis and rowing how to be truly
2."f.
If anything else should be added 10 this pre-
scribed course IN sports we feel certain II ought
aElnS Naturally hazlng could never be
'." an intercollegiate game. hut then So much
'''" better '"r N" already have too many inter
orllegiHt" sport slaGiatorial spectacles which
distract the college mind and overexcite the