The Brookings register. [volume] (Brookings, Brookings County, S.D.) 1903-1971, 1922-11-23
AYGROUN

Ralph Waldo Emerson used to be
quoted on a great many subjects-and
with as much respect as we now quote
Charlie Chaplin or Miss America" In
one of his essay he says: You send
your child to the schOOlmaster, but tbs
the schoolboys who educate him. And
where do the schoolboys educate him
educate each other? In the school
room? BY no meansi On the play
grOund-if our greed permits Il civic
conscience to provide fairgrounds,
otherwise on the streets, in the alleys,
and wherever two or three may be
gathered together. The kind of edu-
cation they give one another depends
largely upon the character of the gath
ering places. In Fairgrounds under
wise adult leadership the boy-by-boy
education will be constructive in many
ways: on the street and alley it may
be anything.
In 1890 only 3 per cen of the popu-
lation of America lived in cities; in
1920, SO per cent lived in cities, and the
decade 1910-1920 showed an increase
Of 5 per cen in city population. For a
hundred years America was constant
ly renewing her vitality through con
tact of her people with nature in the
forests and open country, but the
physical activities and opportunities
of the open country are no longer pos
sible for the majority of III people
We are compelled to develop a sys-
very broad program-of phys
zeal education that will compensate
for these losses of the ~educative and
recreative opportunities Of outdoor
life.
The Great War burned into the
minds OF the people the fact that if a
nation is to survive ii must first Of all
survive physically. Its young people
must be trained for health and normal
physical development. To reject more
than o%ne-third of the young men eX.
amined in the draft was recognized as
a needless waste. not only from the
standpoint of national defense but al
SO from the standpoint of industrial
and commercial efficiency and individ-
ual opportunity for the pursuit of hap
piness. We note with shame-Or is it
without shame?-that Sweden finds
unfit for military duties only II per
cent of it's young manhood. Military
training was pushed forward in some
of our high schools and colleges, but
military authorities Joined with edu
Gators and health experts in pointing
out that the fundamental and vital
necessity lies in a program Of physical
education, including health training
for all children beginning in the pri
mary grades of the schools; and back
of that a program of child care in the
pre-school age which will prevent the
development of most of the defects
and disabilities that We are now labor
ing to overcome in school children.
The following statements by leaders
of public thought are significant in
w TIC liSllu VI Tic puDlit hlilld
No public movement can be regarded
as more fundamental, for without the
sound physical basis no civilization
can endure:
The Republican Platform, 1920: a
thorough system Of physical education
for all children up to the age of 10
including adequate health supervision
and instruction, would remedy cOndi
tons revealed by the draft and would
add to the economic and industrial
strength of the Nation. National lead
ership and stimulation will be neces
sary to induce the States to adopt q
wise system Of physical training"
President Harding: Our draft o.
young men in war time disclosed tha1
between 25 and 80 per cent of the so
called flower of our manhood were
physically incapacitated for service
Recent examinations Of children in the
schools Of some of our cities have
shown that nearly so per cent hav,
minor or major physical deficiencies
l believe. therefore, that a neceSSar.
task is before us-we must remed.
that condition"
DIR. Charles w. Eliot, President En-
eritus Of Harvard University: 9TH
first step in the improvement Of tn
American schools is the introduction
Of universal physical training for bot
boys and girls from 6 to Is years O
age"
Mr.. Herbert Hoover: "No one Cal
deny that the physical development Q
child life is Of equal Importance wit
education. We, everyone Of us. pa
the price in our jails, in u poor
houses, in our hospitals, in the loss G
our economic efficiency. the fertil
ground that we furnish for all the 81