PHYSICAL DIRECTORS

The course which is to be established at Tufts during the next half-year for the training of prospective directors of physical education is one which should receive wide-spread attention. The plan is to develop men who will be able to take charge of the physical education of both high school and college students. Too often this side of the educational field is turned over to directors who have no more than a vague idea of the work they are trying to accomplish.

Education of the body as well as of the mind has received more and more attention from the educational experts in the past few years, and it is now generally admitted that the physical development of the student is an essential factor in the development of his brain. "A sound mind in a sound body" still remains a precept well worthy of note.

The war did much to rouse the public to this double function of the schools, and for a time it found its expression in the military units which sprang up all over the country, the summer training camps, and the general stress laid on physical development. Since the war, unfortunately, this feeling has largely died down with the result that the schools seem to be slipping back into the old paths of physical carelessness and haphazard methods of physical training.

The day has gone by when this work can be conducted effectively by men who have not a thorough grasp of the principles underlying their instruction. Physical training in schools has passed from the amateur into the scientific and professional stage, and it is gratifying to note that the need for physical directors has been appreciated by the colleges. That Tufts realizes the importance of the new course it has established is shown by the fact that college credit will be given in the same degree as for other courses in education.