The chronicle=news., 1914-12-02
SCHOOL
9' ATHLETICS

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| The competitive athletics of our
American colleges and universities
often harbor unsupported dangers
in that they encourage OVERRIDING on
the part of the participants. says the
journal of the American Medical
A ssociation. No one would den,
that systematic and even strenuous
exercise may exert most whole
some effect on the human organism
But the win-at-any-cost eXertion,
taxing vital organs to the very limit
of their endurance, exceeding the
factor of safety in physiologlc func-
tions, and sometimes carried TO the
breaking strain. represents q 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 manliness than the ability
| to endure 4-mile race in the col
lege boat or to complete the football
season in spite of acquired injuries,
\ the more wholesome will American
| college life become.
| manifested tendency for the pupil of
the high school TO ape the perform
ances Of his older brother in the col
leSe. This is shown in the introduce
tion 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 deteriorat-
ing influence Of late hours and tiring
distractions. Even more harmful,
however, is the growing custom OF al.
lowing the same sort OF intense COM
petitive sports in the high school
that are the cause OF complaint in re-
spect to their dangers to the older
college student.
We are glad to note, says The
Journal of the American Medical As
sociation, a spirit of protest in var
ious parts Of the United States
against all the forces, social and ath-
letic, which tend to deteriorate the
American boy Cor sirD at the ado
lescent age Of the high school per-
iod. One health officer has recently
made a public announcement that
proper exercise in well-equipped
gymnasium, under the guidance Of
a trained instructor, is good for any
one, but that competitive athletics,
requiring most strenuous exertion.
long and tedious training and self
denial, is positively bad for any one
before full development, and that all
such overacts tend to impair the
keenpess of the mind and interfere
| with school work proper, as well al
| to injure the body. The competitive
interscholastic games which REQUIRE
great physical eSertion and mental
tension should be done away with
and u good gymnasium. under the d.
| rection of one trained in physical
culture, should be provided and worn
according to the condition and need
Of each pupil assigned. We agree.
| further. that mild and well-timed
athletic exercise and occasional So
| cial functions will tend to relieve the
| monotony Of school life and invig-
| crate body and mind: but overindul-
gence is likely to be detrimental.
The dangers referred to are not in
| significant; they are real. Prof. c.
Il. Bardeen of the University of Wis-
consi in has pointed out, in connection
with the participation jim athletics th
his institution, that the increasing
| amount of heart disease noted in this
| country by life-insurance companies
and others makes it important for
1.-the physician to make himself ac-
quainted with the chief causes re-
sponsible for these conditions so that
he can protect his patients. Over
exertion in competitive sports, espe-
cially in school-boys, is one factor.
From . to 10 per cent of freshmen
entering the state university have
| enlarged hearts with dilatation at
tributable 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 es-
| tablished customs. Yet there is an
obvious contradiction in directing
| the energies and funds of the state
toward the prevention of disease ana
the establishment of habits of right
living in the earliest years of our
public schools, only to permit their
undoing at subsequent period.
School doctors 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.