RURAL RECREATION 229 



PHYSICAL EDUCATION IN RURAL SCHOOLS * 



LAURENCE S. HILL 



PHYSICAL education in rural schools is a problem that has not 

 yet been satisfactorily solved. It is a problem that presents sev- 

 eral angles. We must determine the needs not alone of the boys 

 and girls of the rural schools but also the needs of the rural com- 

 munities in a physical, moral and social way. We must deter- 

 mine what physical education should include and how to in- 

 augurate and organize its various phases. 



There has been rather consistent opposition to physical edu- 

 cation in the rural communities. Judging from the testimony 

 of several district superintendents and many teachers of rural 

 schools and from our own experience in New York State, we 

 must conclude that opposition to this so-called "fad" has its be- 

 ginning in several facts. First, it involves the expenditure of 

 money. This has been our experience in the solution of most 

 problems as well as in the accomplishment of most aims. The 

 problem is indeed difficult of solution when communities come to 

 value money more highly than they do activities that make for 

 greater social, moral and physical efficiency. It is easy to meas- 

 ure the value of tangible things, but difficult to estimate the 

 growth in education, refinement and culture on the part of the 

 child. This is the reason why people generally are willing to 

 spend money in those things the results of which are apparent 

 at once and measurable in dollars and cents, but hesitate and 

 often refuse to give to their own community those things which 

 are necessary for the fullest development of the boys and girls. 



Another reason for opposition to physical education in the 

 rural schools is that the people of these communities do not 

 realize the value of this phase of education. They do not ap- 

 preciate the need for a well-organized health program. They 

 haven't the right conception of what it is, what it includes and 

 what it should accomplish. The feeling is general that they are 

 getting all the physical education they need in their daily labors. 

 They point with complacency to the fact that they have all the 



i Adapted from American Physical Education Revieic, Jan.. 1010, pp. 27- 

 32. Read before the Physical Education Dept, N. E. A., Pittsburgh, Pa., 

 Julv 2, 1018 



