COLLEGE BOYS' PHYSIQUE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 78, 1 April 1936, Page 10

COLLEGE BOYS' PHYSIQUE

Superficial impressions of the physique of boys attending the Wellington secondary schools are so generally favourable that it is rather surprising to learn from the report of the Principal of Wellington College, discussed at the meeting of the Board of Governors yesterday, that there are among new pupils not a few instances of underweight and undergrowth, due, it is stated, to malnutrition. In about 50 per cent. of the cases the general posture was defective, and this was attributed in some degree to the .unsuitability of the desks at which pupils had to sit both in primary and secondary schools. It was also suggested that in certain cases parents should be more keenly interested in seeing that their sons participated more fully than they did in all the games and activities so lavishly provided. The recommendations were for a more intensive course of physical instruction in primary schools and the replacement of desks in the colleges by tables and chairs. These reforms, which were supported with emphasis by members of the board during the discussion, are long overdue, and it is gratifying to note that the Minislcr of Education (Mr. Eraser) has placed tiie care of the body, as well as that of the mind, high in the list of the measures he intends to introduce for the betterment of education. This is all the more im-

porlant, as Mr. G. Mitchell pointed out to the board, in view of the declining birth-rate in New Zealand. A well-organised system of physical training, carried right through the schools, primary and secondary, would cover all pupils, including those who, for various reasons, do not normally take part in games. This is a side of education which has been rather neglected in the past in this country, especially during the recent period of economies, which affected the Cadet system. There is the additional advantage of discipline which comes from organised physical drill, a valuable corrective to the forms of nervous derangement noted in the report. No mention was made in the report or the discussion of the effects of excessive homework, but in view of the opinions expressed by correspondents in "The Post," consideration of this aspect might well be included.