The evening star and Newark advertiser. [volume] (Newark, N.J.) 1907-1908, 1907-12-26
Large Attendance at Annual
Meeting in Atlantic
City.
A SPEAKER
Randall D. Warden Makes Plea
for Physical Training in Pub
lie Schools President Boyer
Urges Higher Salaries.
DR.. CrOnin Speaks.
Especial to the evening star.J


lions of the State were represented al
the 1fty-third annual meeting of the
State Teachers Association, which
opened here his afternoon in the audi
forum of the High School. The ses-
sions will be continued until Saturday
morning, when the association will
elect officers and adjourn.
The feature of the session this after
noon was the address of Charles B.
Boyer, of this city, who is president of
the association. Mr.. Boyer made a plea
for higher salaries for teachers, more
cooperation and the establishment of
parental and industrial schools.
DR.. John ]. Cronin spoke on the
Results of Proper Medical Inspection
of School Children and Randall ID.
Warden, director of physical training
in the Newark public schools, spoke on
1.-THE Relation of Physical Vigor to.
Public School Education" His address
follows in part:
There nav been great changes in edu-
cational methods since universities were
first inaugurated; yet the training Of the
mind has almost alWays received the most
attention from the school men. Especially
is this so In the public schools. In the
private schools of Europe and America
the boys have always had their teams
and their coaches and their gymnasiumS
recognized by the authorities and provided
with a fund for their maintenance. But In
the public schools this branch has been
neglected, and this has been due to the
carelessness of those mon and women in
authority, who guide and direct educa-
tlonal boards, However, this slight upon
physical welfare and good health has ut
last been recognized, and in every locality
where intelligence and foresight have
q1anad and dirnnfpd fha fFnJan nf nnuantina
physical training and athletics have been
introduced into the public schools.
In Newark, we have a body of pril-
oipals who are to be commended for their
initiative in this respect. Starting four
years ago, just after New York city held
It's first public school athletic meet in
Madison Square Garden, they organized
themselves into an athletic association for
she furtherance of healthful and invigorat-
ing sport in it's ~cleanest and purest sense.
They have been a power ever since for
good scholarship, good discipline, and for
physical advancement among the puhlia
school children of our community. No o.
ganizations are better suited than the
teachers and principals of the schools 10
know and administer TO the physical aud
moral needs of children. A work has been
done in IVA by these teachers and
principals that 1t would have taken one
person years TO have accomplished I'M
aided. They have built up an organization
which started the first year witt, six hun
dreds boys, training for the athletic meet.
The next wear sixteen hundred boys took
part. In 1906 the girls were taken into tho
organization, and nearly two thousand
pupils competed In one of the most Won
derful outdoor meets that was ever held.
Last year the entry list grew to tile enor-
nous total OF twenty-five hundred boys
and eleven hundred %irls.
Indeed, what would you have in your
large cities to make Drawn and insure
good health IL you failed to inculcate the
habit of exercise and fresh air in the minds
of school children The children live in
artificial surroundings, away from the
olden exercise of the farm and country.
They are ccoped up in bad air, and feo
on predigested mush, and expected TO
come out double brand prize-winners. But.
oh, they are such failures when compared
to the children who have the pure ozone
of the fields to breathe, and an appetite
which comes with real peas, and corn
and milk. And the poor little pale girlsi
What shall we do for them? The mothers
of future city children. Do they need
mental training more than thSy need some
thing to make the spark of life
beam more brightly within. something
to bring back the roses to their
cheeks and a smile to their lips? And the
country children, too! They must not be
forgotten: games will tighten their feet,
and exercise in the classroom will quicken
the interchange of stimulus and response
between mind and muscle.
ut is not my Intention to argue against
the training and development of these chill
dren's minds; do not take this idea from
what you AVE heard. That would be as
absurd as the former methods in education.
My plea is for the recognition of the three
divisions which belong to trainings: The
moral, mental and physical. Educators
have this serious physical problem to deal
with. 1t is a stupendous undertaking.
Already the standard of American man
hood and womanhood is on the decline; the
remedy can only come from a definite ap-
~plieation of prescribed physical training
and supervised athletics given under the
direction of professional men and women-'
Mr.. Boyer's address follows:
TN the broadening conception of educa-
ton, which has lifted 1t from a process for
liberal and enlightened preparation for
lie, no phase has undergone greater
physical weIl-being of the child. 1t is with
this in view that we wish to emphasize
this afternoon, in the first general meeting
Of the association, the topic Of Physical
FOLLOWING this, and coordained with it.
will be discussed problems fundamental iu
and far-reaching in the general
conception of what modern education inn
plies or really should imply.
1.-THE objects Of the New Jersey State
Teachers Association are set forth In
article 2 of the constitution, in which II
says: This association is established to
promote the educational interests of the
office of teaching its true rank among the
to promote and guard the in
terests of public and State school teachers
by :, n means Of in Tbis asonc,s conference t1n6 Eas and
lAl& eA AAgAAH 8AAaA AANA ~ -
lost sight Of these objects. 1t has always
stood for advancement in all matters per-
timing to the profession of teaching and
the general cause of education.
"United action. or cooperation, is a prin-
ciples of social life. As teachers we are not
competing with our fellow men for the
prizes of life nor for supremacy and rank
i'm position: hut we are striving for a CO.
operative influence which will place the
profession of teaching on a basis of just
and recognized worth. In order that we
may fully realize this noble ideal it win
be necessary that all teachers, and not
some few only. should be identified in In
terest and purpose with the work Of the
association.
IF this association is to be- more pros
porous In the future. If it is to exert a more /
potent influence for the social and hnan-
cial betterment Of the State teachers. 1t
he necessary that every State teacher
should he a member. There Is no WORT
which more fully expresses that which is
Of paramount Importance in the present
state Of orr civilization than cOoperation.
provisions of the Retirement Fund acy
Of 1907. making II compulsory for all teach
receiving their first appointment after
the first Of January. 1908. to become mem
hers of the fund, Is in accordance with the
principle OF cooperation. From the accu-
Of the contributions Of the many
the frw are to receive dDarcin' MD wher 4
no longer able to render efficient services
to the State.
''The present retirement fund system
IS the outcome Of heroic and valiant