The social value of modern physical education.

Probably the first nations to realise the developmental effect of physical education both on character and physique were Sparta and Athens. Though the systems developed by these two nations were concurrent, they were different in application. Sparta was to all intents and purposes a highly organised military camp, and almost the sole purpose of its physical education was to prepare a man for war. In some respects the Spartan outlook was identical with the German one from 1933 onwards. From seven years of age the Spartan child came under the care of the state. His training was thoroughly methodical, but little or no attention was paid to the aesthetic side of his training. In Athens, however, the training was a much more balanced type and due importance was given to the mental as well as the physical development. There was a much greater emphasis placed on music and games and the height of physical development and performance was participation in the Olympic Games. Aristotle defined clearly the aims of the Greek system when he said, « The main aims of physical education are health, strengh, agility and beauty ». The Romans were also fully conscious of the value of physical education and though they despised the Greek athletics, they were fond of strenuous exercice as a means of recreation and like the Spartans realised its military value. However, it should be mentioned at this point, that during the Roman occupation of Britain, the beginnings of what we consider to be essentially British sports, boxing and football, were introduced in their primitive forms. With the decline of the Mediterranean influence and power, interest in physical education was lost, for some centuries. The so called « Dark Ages » were indeed ones on the Continent for the development of physical education and it was in a very few places that a spark of interest remained. In the late fourteenth century an Italian, Da Feltre at Mantua in Italy, ran a school for the sons of noblemen in which physical activities took their part along with the more academic studies. This Italian was in fact the first man to call attention to the value of physical education after the lapse centuries. In his school he ran a daily exercise period regardless of weather, and he even had special teachers for riding, fencing running and archery. In France, Locke wrote a book or treatise in the late 17th century called « Thougts Concerning Education » in which he divided education into three aspects, physical, moral and intellectual, and Rousseau whom, as we played no small part in the French Revolution had many definite ideas about physical education and stressed continually the importance of the intimate relationship between mind and body. In spite of all this talk by enlightened thinkers over some centuries it was not until the late 18th century that any real effort was made to develop interest and pradtice in physical education in schools. This was started in Germany by Bassedow who in 1774 opened a model school at Dessau. He was greatly influenced by Rousseau and taught Greek gymnastics, consisting of wrestling, running, throwing, and jumping, and at a later stage archery, swimming and skating were added to the list. From this school at Dessau there went out many disciples over the continent of Europe but it was still in Germany that the flamme of interest burned most brightly. In the first years of the 19th century, Guts Muths who was a practical teacher for a number of years wrote a book Gymnastics for the young and he was the first to introduce into gymnastics, long walks and excursions. Jahn, a Prussian and the son of a clergyman, became interested in gymnastics and was the inventor of the first horizontal bar and the first outdoor gymnasium. He was also perhaps the first man to introduce a scientific outlook towards physical education and to form a society to do research work in the subject. Unfortunately, Jahn