The Washington herald., 1922-03-15
PHYSICAL EDUCATION
A NATIONAL NEED.

Physical education must be
Viewed in the light of national
needs. the conference on the future
of public health In the United
states was told yesterday by Prof.
Jesse F. Williams. Of Columbia
University.
The revelations Of the physical
examinations made under the selec-
tive service act. during the war have
awakened the people to the needs
of physical education, he declared.
Health as freedom from disease
is a standard of mediocrity. Health
ought to be given q social inter
pretation," said Prof. Williams.
we must not hold physical edu-
cation as a supplementary means
to be employed as a corrective Of
life. but as a fundamental scheme
Of physical activities for all, d.
rected in accordance with the bio
logic, social and human needs OF
boys and girls and men and wO-
men everywhere.
Five striking facts OF human bio
logical and social developments on
which the Importance OF physical
education is directly founded were
/ enumerated by Prof. Williams:
l. Men and women today share
In the biological Inheritance OF the
race. Primitive man in the primor-
dial mud and his successors,
whether as arboreal or ground
creatures, marked out for us for all
time the physical and organic bases
Of life. The development OF the
muscular system and the subsc-
quent rise and elaboration OF the
vital systems OF the body deter
mined the fundamental importsnc"
Of physical activities for the indi-
Vidual Modern civilization shaped
/ by economic needs, by artificial So
lection, tends 20 ignore the biologic
I story. The increase in functional
! nervous diseases, the disorders OF
/ the mind and personality, the in
crease In the chronic degenerativc
! diseases OF middle life PROFOUND
serious questions for our Civiliza-
tion.
. The Importance of physical
education in the United States Is
seen in the history OF our indus
trial development since the civil
war. The gtowth OF industriaIism
and the factory system, the strip
. ping OF the home OF occupations
and activities, the segregating in
| shops. stores and Industrial phys
! ical effort. present not only prob
lens for capital and labor but also
, problems in mans social develop
ment
;. The swing OF the population
/ from rural 20 urban districts con-
stricts greatly the range and char
/ aCter of life. In 1900 only SO per
cent and in 1S40 only SIS per cent
/ Of the total population lived in
cities Of over 5000 inhabitants. a.
compared with S5 per cent in 1910
and so per cent in 1920. This SWIM
/ to the city has been accompanied
bv increases in the number OF wo-
men and children engaged in in
dustrial occupations.
/ 4. Recent worldwide events give
/ prediction to the belief that ma
| tionalism rather than international
ism will be the controlling policy
ments The reaction from the
world war and its sequels have
emphasized nationalistic aims and
have cemented nationalistic pro-
grams.
5. Physical education concerned
as il is with activities OF the child
! in which primitive impulses and
desires are expressed. will remain
the principal means for moral edu-
cation OF the young OF the race.
Moral education rests upon these
immemorial racial activities and
their expressions, and physical edu-
/ cation forms the chief means by
( which such expressions may be
! guided TO social ends.