NEW PHYSICAL JERKS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 8 April 1929, Page 9

NEW PHYSICAL JERKS.

UNDER MEDICAL SUPERVISION. COMPARATIVE TESTS TO BE ! MADE. j Physical education in our primary j schools, says the “Auckland Stair,” has gen© through several changes dur- ‘ ing the past three decades. Many of the- 1 older veneration will remember the 1 time when a royal artillery bombardier ! or sergeant used to appear once weekly I in the school playground and put the ! boys through the oal-fasliioned evolutions and exercises which were the recognised thing in the army in those • times. There were even the old-fash-ioned Snider carbines —those with the mule-kick—to he handled for both drill and shooting. Then came the inauguration of the public school, cadet system, under the direction of Colonel Loveday. flic age of the toy gun, the glengarry cap, and the. blue jersey. It wa.s the era of pseudo-military commissions). ol parades' and ceremonies in j which school chilidron were marched out for every conceivable function. ENTER. PHYSICAL JERKS, it was not without considerable opposition that the school cadet scheme' wa,s relegated to oblivion, and replaced by the less militaristic lmt far more efficacious system of physical exercise's which is now part of the compulsory dnilv routine in all .schools. In each education district instructors, and instructresses in physical training aegulur’y visit the schools, maintaining the instruction at a generally high standard of efficiency and keenness. They devote special attention to the training colleges, io that all of the young teachers who move out into the profession are thoroughly grounded in the. system and capable of securing the best- possible results in the physical development of pupils. How efficientL s the physical instruction in schools has been demonstrated by the massed > displays which occasionally have been given in tli-e Auckland Domain, and |>y the enthusiasm -displayed in the drill squad competitions at .the annual sports of the Auckland Primary Schools’ Association. NEW SCHEME TO BE TESTED. Now. however, a further development is contemplated. New sets of exercises have been brought out-, hut before their adoption is finally decided upon, experiments are to be conducted into the comparative results achievable by the present an-cl the proposed courses of instruction. For this experiment in Auckland three .schools are. .selected. These will be Pa-patbetoe, ID Mansi io. and probably Mount. Eden. Here the pupils will b-e divided, into two sections, one of which will proceed through the- year with the present exercises, while tho other will undertake the new ones. To commence the test] the pupils in each squad will he examined, vouched and measured by the medical officers who visit tho schools, and as far as is possible, observations will be. made of the" diet of th.;> children, i When the period of experimenting has ended the children will again he weighed and measured, and thus, from eareI fix',y-piepared tables which, will take 1 age* and other circumstances into a.c----r count, reliable data, will be obtainable j as to the comparative efficiency of the current and proposed exercises. There are no two opinions upon the ! benefits that daily physical instruction ■ have had upon the rising generation. ‘ Our children, in physique, are as fine specimens as cn.n he found anywhere in ’ tho world. In consequence the new course of exercises will be of interest i fo the whole community, and .teachers ) in nnrtionfinr will await keenly the- rre--1 sillte. of the tests which are to be C made. Judgimr from the opinions of - several they will ha only too eager to- > adopt new -exercises if thev will be of - still further benefit to the physique and the general health of the young.