PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Grey River Argus, 30 April 1938, Page 4

PHYSICAL EDUCATION

“The Swedes, the Czechs and the Germans—in that order—have widely diffused through their population a better muscular physique chan the British,’’ said Mr R. C. K. Ensor, in a recent broadcast talk. “And I think the cause of it can be stated with some certainty. It isn’t labour camps; I had seen it in Germany long before labour camps were thought of. Nor is it military service, for you notice it in the boys long before they reach the Army age. It is physical training—what our slang calls ‘physical jerks.’ In Great Britain we have never taken physical jerks seriously —except during the war, when they worked wonders by way of training weedy recruits into men. At other times we have pinned our faith entirely on games. Now games confer considerable benefits in the moral sphere; they teach you to keep your temper, to be a good loser, to play for your side. Their physical benefits are much less. Few games do much physical good to any but the minority who are good at playing them. The majority, who stand most in need of physical development, get very little of it from games—in fact, the more they need it the less they get it. But, taking even the flower of the games products. + he English public school athletes, I. think you will find them inferior on the whole to Scandinavians trained by 'physical jerks.’ ”