60 PHYSICAL TRAINING 



dren have it, and not merely picked teams; but 

 let us also be careful to make sure that the chil- 

 dren are physically fitted for certain kinds of 

 sport, and that excessive exercise is avoided. 



It is not the place of this book to describe 

 school-room conditions that make for bad phys- 

 ical condition and bad physical development. 

 We now know that very small children partic- 

 ularly should not be made to sit for any length 

 of time in the strict order and silence that used to 

 be required of all alike. We know that when 

 children reach the school-desk period, the seats 

 and desks must be regulated to the size of the 

 child. We know that frequent periods for phys- 

 ical relief must be provided, not once a week, as 

 in a certain Pennsylvania high school, but two 

 or three times a day. We are quite aware, these 

 days, that there is no use in giving children phys- 

 ical examinations if they are in badly ventilated 

 class-rooms. Corrective work can be seriously 

 hampered under such conditions. 



There is no doubt at all but that school chil- 

 dren should be examined two or three times a year, 

 and corrective or remedial measures provided. 

 Such a procedure would mean much for future 

 generations, just as would the finding and segre- 

 gating of the mentally and morally abnormal. 



