Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-05-22
BY BISHOP w
OUR EDUCATORS NEEDING AND
SEEKING DELINERANCE


a MONG the presidents and faculties of
y the institutions of higher education
in the south, there is an increasing
opposition to intercollegiate athletics.
Very many of these self-sacrificing edu-
Gators have been always opposed to these
Injurious games, but Yarl-
ous influences have con- <saagsssssSkgs&aaaM
spired to silence their
convictions and th"art A
their purposes concerning 8Ss S@
' 'Hs 4s EVIL il are. ar. now token.
Of such pronounced dis %%%%3
satisfaction among them ssNs
with reference to the 4%aAs $@SS
hindrance of their work #.*..= ~
bv excessive athletics, 4
that they will not endure
much longer the defeat NJ &S
of their labors by these E8ss
anti educative distrac- sc Ns 88
tions. sssAA 5sRga aa#%
Accordingly, the Asso- @sssss b
citation of Colleges and
Secondary Schools Of the Southern States
appointed a committee to inquire into the
condition and administration of athletics in
the institutions that members of the
association and the Carnegie Foundation
for the Advancement Of Teaching appropri-
ated in 1928 $1,000 to assist the commit
tee in it's Investigation.
Considerable space in the recent report
of the president of the foundation is given
to the findings of that committee. Presi-
dent Pritchett says that the committee in
it's summary of the abuses incident to pres
ent-day intercollegiate contests names
them as follows:
l. Comm~scialism.
9. Excessive expenditure OF money.
g. Too great insistence upon turning out
Il winning team.
T. 'ScOuting" for athletes in the prepara-
tory schools.
s. Too great temptation for the smaller
institutions to try to rival the larger ones
in athletics
g. Too great emphasis upon "the train
ing" of athletes.
T. Tendency towards oyer-emphasis on
the part of the alumni and general public
of the relative Importance Of athletics.
s. Too much newspaper publicity.
g. Temptations to administrators and
executors to use the athletic reputation of
the institution as a means of securing ap-
preparations and endowment.
10. Gambling.
II. intercollegiate sports Of benefit to
too few Students
The committee shows that the average
number of days per session allowed for
the purpose of taking part in! intercollegi-
ate games is fourteen days-which is more
than half of scholastic month.
The committee reports that betting is a
growing feature of the more important
football contests. It finds that manv
as an expression of loyalty to alma mater,
and it concludes that students are greatly
Influenced IN this practice by the sight of
their elder brothers and their relatives
thus supporting the team by risking money
upon its success. great danger will
come, in the opinion of the committee
When the professional gambler ALWAYS
alert for place to ply his trade may de-
eide to turn his attention to INTERCOLLEGIATE
football . l' .
=
Iears may arise, has already come The
professional gambler is in evidence at every
such game 0i'
At another point in President Pritchett,s
report 10 the trustees of the Carnegie Foun-
udtlon, ne says on his own account and
apart from the findings of the committee:
1here are honorable exceptions to the
general statement that the conditions of the
coleges do not make for vigorous intel
iectual life But, taking the country over,
IL IS talr to say that such effort as has been
made by the faculties to maintain high
IDEALS or scholarly life has been more than
onset by the intense competition for num-
Ders and by the widespread desire of alumni
and oftentimes of trustees, for pre-eminence
IN other activities of the student body, and
in particular athletics. That which col
lege calls its constituency-which means
mainly the body of the alumni--is more in
terested in winning football team than in
the presence of an earnest and scholarly
spirit or of a genuine cultural life among
the student body
Dr. Pritchett shows how this demoraliz-
ing influence is passing down from the col
leges into the high schools. He says:
The leadership of the college will always
be a powerful influence on the secondary
schools. Today that influence makes rather
for an emphasis on artificial standards of
admission and the eXaltation of athletics
rather than for the appreciation of learn
ing, or skill, or of intellectual sincerity. 1t
has all come about naturally enough. 1t can
not go on Indefinitely without profoundly af-
fecting the intellectual and cultural quality
of our national life"
He might have ADDED that from the high
schools it is penetrating the grammar
schools, and that, from highest to lowest