230 RURAL SOCIOLOGY 



fresh air there is ; the city people may need physical education, 

 not they. They do not know the corrections necessary for oc- 

 cupational defects, the physical need of social life, and of that 

 type of activity which will diminish the exaggerated awkward- 

 ness of the country lad. Here, too, the rural school-teacher is 

 apparently lost. She is apt to know nothing or very little about 

 physical education and health education. She takes a very 

 small part in the affairs of the community. She has not made 

 herself felt in the life of the child out of t-he school. The teach- 

 ing of physical training seems but to add one more burden to 

 the many she is already carrying. She is not capable of giving 

 a good account of herself in the health education of the child. 

 She therefore is opposed to it. Not the least of all causes for 

 opposition is that in many of those districts where physical train- 

 ing has already been inaugurated the instructors supervising 

 the work have not been properly trained. Their knowledge of 

 physical education is limited. Is it not just possible that this 

 last-mentioned fact may in some degree be attributed to the sys- 

 tems of physical training J common in various institutions of 

 learning throughout the country in which the supervisor, per- 

 chance, has learned gymnastics but missed the mark in physical 

 education ? From some of these institutions one gets the notion 

 that athletics is physical training, or calisthenics is physical train- 

 ing, and that these activities comprise all there is to physical 

 training. The institutions themselves seem to have the idea that 

 they are promoting physical training, for upon investigation we 

 find published in their catalogs the statement that they have 

 courses in physical culture and naturally we find the students 

 going out from these institutions to promote the same type of edu- 

 cation. With such conditions it is little wonder that we find op- 

 position to physical training as a part of the school curriculum. 

 Now what can we do to overcome this opposition? We must 

 go slowly. We may give entertainments, play and athletic festi- 

 vals with as many children taking part as is possible. This is the 

 best means of popularizing the work I know of. At these festi- 

 vals offer games or events suitable for adults, especially those 

 activities that bring back fond memories. Don't lose an oppor- 

 tunity of getting the parents to the school or playground to in- 

 spect the work. 



