The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1914-11-26
HIGH SCHOOL ATHLETICS.

The competitive athletics OF our
American colleges and universities
often harbor unsupported dangers In
that they encourage OVERRIDING on the
part Of the participants No one
would deny that systematic and even
strenuous exercise may exert most
wholesome effect on the human or
ganism. But the win-at-any-cost ex-
ertion. taxing vital organs tc the very
limit of their endurance, exceeding the
factor Of safety in physiologic func-
tions. and sometimes carried to the
breaking strain, represents sort OF
unjustifiable self sacrifice that may
properly be made for ones country
but is never called for to uphold the
glory Of ones college. The sooner it
is realized that there are better tests
of maniiness than the ability to en-
dure q 4-mile race in the college boat
or to complete the football season in
spite of acquired injuries, the more
wholesome will American college life
become.
Unfortunately. there is a widely
manifested tendency for the pupil of
the high school to ape the perform
ances Of his older brother in the col
lege. This is shown in the introduce
ton Of Greek letter societies and So
cial functions into the secondary
schools, tending to counterbalance
some OF their wholesome features of
social intercourse with the snobbery
of exclusiveness and the deteriorating
influence Of late hours and firing dis
fractions. Even more baneful, how
ever, Is the growing custom OF allow
ing the same sort Of intense compe-
titive sports In the high school that
are the cause Of complaint in respect
to their dangers to the older college
student
We are glad to note. says the Jour-
nal of the American Medical Associa-
ton, q spirit of protest In various parts
Of the United States against all the
forces, social and athletic, which tend
to deteriorate the American boy Cor
girD at the adolescent age of the high
school period. One health officer has
recently made a public announcement
that proper exercise in a well equip
ped gymnasium, under the guidance
OF q trained instructor, is good for
any one, but that competitive ath-
letics, requiring most strenuous exer-
ton, long and tedious training and
self denial, is positively bad for any
ono before full development, and that
all such overt acts tend to impair the
keenness OF the mind and interfere
with school work proper. as we'll as
to injure the body. The competitive
interscholastic games which require
great physical exertion and mental
tension should be done away with and
a good gymnasium. under the direc-
ton of one trained in physical Gull
ture, should be provided and work
according to the condition and need of
each pupil assigned. We agree, fur
Their, that mild and well-timed athletic
exercise and occasional social func-
tions will tend to relieve the monotony
of school life and invigorate body and
mind; but overindulgence is likely to
be detrimental. - 90 --' ~ -,
The dangers referred to are not in
significant; they are real. Prof. C. r.
Bardeen of the University OF Wiscon
sin has pointed out in connection with
the participation in athletics in his in
stitution, that the increasing amount
of heart disease noted in this country
by life insurance companies and 9TH
ers makes 1t important for the physi-
clan to make himself acquainted with
the chief causes responsible for these
conditions so that he can protect his
patients. Overexertion in competitive
sports, especially in school boys, is
one factor. From to 10 per cent of
freshmen entering the state university
have enlarged hearts with dilatation
attributable to athletic sports. This
condition not only keeps these stu
dents out of college sports. but to
some extent hampers their scholastic
work in college.
Criticisms of this sort are never
welcomed when they contravene
established customs Yet there is an
obvious contradiction in directing the
energies and funds of the state toward
the prevention of disease and the
establishment Of habits Of right living
in the earliest years of our public
schools, only to permit their undoing
at subsequent period. School doc
tors and school nurses in the primary
departments have come to stay for
some time, at least. Why not more
healthful school customs in later
years?