FOREWORD

This Office has recently reviewed the present-day provisions and practices in institutions of higher education with reference to Instruction in Hygiene and the Medical Supervision and care of students and the results of these studies have appeared in print. A distinct, though closely related, function of such institutions is that of furnishing opportunity for and direction in those activities which we call "physical." A general view of practices in this field is furnished in the present publication and we believe this survey is the first to include all institutions of higher education in its collection of data.

We hear much about the deeds of those who, by reason of natural gifts, inclination, and special training, shine in the realm of intercollegiate sports, but in the following pages we are concerned with what the colleges and universities are doing to preserve and promote, through healthful and recreational activities, the physical, mental, and moral balance of the average student.

The illustrations are representative of recent types of architecture in a college for men, a college for women, and a coeducational university.

BESS GOODYKOONTZ,

Assistant Commissioner of Education.

V

PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN INSTITUTIONS

OF HIGHER EDUCATION

DEVELOPMENT

In the First Annual Report of the President of Harvard College, for the year 1825-26, we read, "It belongs by law to the faculty of the university to authorize exercises conducive to health. In the month of March 1826, they accepted the offer of two gentlemen to give their services for teaching a system of gymnastick to such members of the society as should choose to practice them. The students generally showing a disposition to take a part, the corporation provided the requisite apparatus." Physical education was no new feature of college life for the superfluous energies of college students overflowed then, as always, into physical activities of many forms but this was self-education and never before had an institution of college rank gone to the trouble and expense of providing instruction and apparatus in this field for its students.

The "two gentlemen" who had offered their services were German exiles and one of them, Charles Follen, was made "instructor in German, and lecturer on the civil law" in 1825. In 1827 he was entitled "instructor in German and superintendent of the gymnasium."

"The regular gymnastick exercises, when the superintendent of the gymnasium is present", were scheduled for twice a week, from 12 to 1 o'clock, and it is needless to say that the exercises employed and the method of instruction were those of the German system. In the catalog for 1828-29 the notice quoted above was omitted and Follen was no longer mentioned as superintendent of the gymnasium.

Due to the influence of the German expatriates, Yale College in 1826 voted $300 "for clearing and preparing of the grounds for a gymnasium and for the erection of apparatus for gymnastic exercises with a view to the promotion of the health of the students" and classes were started under the direction of a college tutor.1

At Amherst in the same year a gymnastic society was organized by the students and apparatus was purchased

1 Leonard, F. E. History of physical education, Philadelphia, 1923.

14911°-37-2

1

and set up in the college grove. Similar provisions were made at about the same time at Williams, Brown, and the College of Charleston.1

In all of these schools the interest in the exercises employed, which fell under heavy criticism from the hygienic point of view, was short lived and for about a third of a century formal physical education was in eclipse. Then in 1859, there came a vigorous revival and an era of gymnasium building began. In that year structures, which, for their time, were large and well equipped, were erected at Amherst, Harvard, and Yale. At Amherst the system of exercises was placed under the direction of a physician who was made professor of hygiene and physical education and all students were required to attend the gymnasium classes for a half hour four times a week. At Yale and Harvard the use of the gymnasium was not obligatory and competent directors were not appointed until several years later.

According to Hartwell 2 the following colleges and universities built gymnasia between the years 1859 and 1870: Amherst, Harvard, Yale, Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Princeton, Wisconsin, Washington and Pennsylvania, Williams, Bowdoin, Massachusetts Agricultural, and Vassar. Between 1870 and 1880, Beloit, California, Carleton, Smith, and Vanderbilt were added to the list and in the next 5 years Bryn Mawr, Cornell, Dickinson, Johns Hopkins, Lafayette, Lehigh, Minnesota, Tufts, and Wooster. The gymnasium of the National Deaf-Mute College, built in 1880, had the unique feature of a swimming pool 40 by 26 feet.

Of 23 of these institutions from which Hartwell obtained data 17, or about three-fourths, had, by 1885, adopted some form of class drill. In 7 "light gymnastics" were used; in 2 "light" and "heavy" gymnastics; in 3 the "Sargent system"; and in 3 "light gymnastics and the Sargent system." In the others there was military drill. In 1 the gymnastic exercises were given for 11⁄2 hours per week; in 7, for 2 hours; in 2, for 3 hours. Attendance was required of all students in 6; of all candidates for the B. A. degree in 1; of first and second

1 Leonard, F. E.

History of physical education, Philadelphla, 1923. Hartwell, E. M. Physical training in American colleges and universities. Bureau of Education Circular No. 5, 1885. Government Printing Office, Washington, 1886. Hartwell mentions the maintenance of an out-of-door gymnasium at the University of Virginia from 1852 to 1861.

INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER EDUCATION

3

year students in 4; and of first-year students for 1 term in 1. A "director who was a member of the faculty" was employed by 5; a “medical director" by 1; a "director-superintendent" by 1; and a "special teacher" by 5; the exercises were managed by "student leaders" in 4; and the remaining institutions did not furnish information on this point.

Of the colleges for women, only Smith, Vassar, and Wellesley reported "calisthenics under supervision."

Hartwell published information from 10 important colleges and universities concerning their athletic sports, the number of participants, the expenditures, etc., but these were chiefly engaged in by the chosen few.

There was already "heated discussion" concerning intercollegiate contests and "the question of their regulation had become a burning one with more than one faculty." Intercollegiate had superseded intramural games and they were fast becoming spectacles rather than spontaneous activities of the students conducted for their own satisfaction.

SURVEYS IN THE PRESENT CENTURY

In 1910 Meylan completed a statistical survey of the provisions and practices in physical education for a Committee of the Society of Directors of Physical Education in Colleges. His questionnaires were sent to 136 colleges and universities selected by the Carnegie Foundation. Replies were received from 124 institutions. Of these, 114, or 98.2 percent, reported gymnasium facilities and 36.6 percent a swimming pool. Nearly 95 percent had regular instruction in gymnastics and in 21 percent the person in charge was given the title of professor. In 75 percent he had "a seat in the faculty."

In 95, or 87 percent, physical education was prescribed. In 27.3 percent it was required of freshmen; in 44.3 percent of freshmen and sophomores; in 5.6 percent, of the freshmen, sophomore, and junior students; and in 14.7 percent of "all students." No definite prescription was reported by the remaining institutions. Credit was given for the gymnasium work by 58.2 percent and courses were required for graduation in 1.9 percent.

• Ibid.

Meylan, G. L. Status of physical education in American colleges. American Physical Education Review, 17:79–85. February 1912.