| PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE COLLEGES.[1] |
By FRED E. LEONARD, M. D.,
PROFESSOR OF PHYSIOLOGY AND DIRECTOR OF THE MEN'S GYMNASIUM IN OBERLIN COLLEGE.
IT is a conspicuous fact that within the last two decades of the present century our foremost colleges and universities, with few exceptions, have been providing for the physical training of their students by the erection of gymnasia which in many instances rival the other buildings on the campus in size and cost, and by assigning the direction of the work done in them to some officer supposed to possess special qualifications for his position. In such recently founded institutions as Leland Stanford and Chicago Universities, the chair of physical training has been among the first to be filled, and the gymnasium has followed close upon the library.
The wisdom of this new departure in college education is apparent. Many a student is physically defective when he enters upon the course of study. The general muscular development of thirteen out of the last one hundred men examined at Oberlin was noticeably poor, eighteen were flat-chested, more than a third stood with head and shoulders drooping forward and abdomen protruding, an equal number were flat-footed, and nearly as many carried one shoulder considerably lower than the other. Deficient mobility of the chest walls, irregularities in the heart's action after exertion, nutritive disorders, abnormal susceptibility to colds, evidences of exaggerated nervous irritability and of faulty muscular control are frequently observed.
The conditions of college life, too, favor physical carelessness. The current sets strongly in the direction of mental effort. The scholar's ambition is aroused, his circle of interests widens, he realizes the need and the possibilities of intellectual attainment. Under the urging of teachers the successful student is likely to apply himself too continuously to his books; the poor student, or the one who is unused to study, may be compelled to exert himself to the utmost in order to keep up with his mates. Social distractions make their demands upon spare moments, and outside interests multiply as the end of the course approaches. The claims of the body for a reasonable share of care and training are easily overlooked, unless there is some organized attempt to enforce them.
It is during these very years of student life, moreover, that the growth period of the body comes to an end. This growing period is
- ↑ Read before the Physical Education Department of the National Educational Association, Milwaukee, July 9, 1897.
