[Reprinted from the Boston Medical and Surgical Journal 
of January 13,1898.] 
REPORT ON PHYSICAL TRAINING IN THE 
BOSTON PUBLIC SCHOOLS.1 
At a meeting of the Boston Society for Medical 
Improvement which was held in November, 1896, 
on motion Dr. Walter Channing, it was resolved: 
“That this Society is in sympathy with the effort to 
secure the incorporation of a more thorough course of 
physical training in the course of study in the Boston 
public schools, through the action of the School Com- 
mittee, and that a committee of three members of this 
Society be appointed by the president to report at an 
early day what steps are best calculated to promote 
favorable action by the School Committee.” The 
president appointed as members of this committee Drs. 
W. Channing, E. H. Bradford and Wm. M. Couant. 
The committee visited a number of schools of the 
primary, grammar and high-school grades in the city 
proper, and in the outlying districts of Dorchester, 
Roxbury, Charlestown, Allston and Brighton. 
In the beginning it may be said that they had 
no definite idea of just how much or how little at- 
tention was given to physical training in the Boston 
public schools. If they had any opinion it was, per- 
haps, that the character of the work was rather meagre 
and unsatisfactory. They were aware of the earlier 
WALTER CHANGING, M.D., BROOKLINE, MASS. 
1 Read before the Boston Society for Medical Improvement, Octo- 
ber 18,1897, by Dr. Chauning, as Chairman of the Committee appointed 
in 1896, _ , 2 
attempts that had been made, and of their final failure 
and collapse, and they were somewhat sceptical as to 
what they would now actually find. 
It gives them pleasure to say that they were agree- 
ably disappointed from the start, for they soon discov- 
ered that physical training as now being given under 
the direction of the present department to the public- 
school children was founded on solid scientific princi- 
ples in which unity, harmony and progression were 
apparent, and was being practically and successfully 
applied under a system of thorough, skilful and care- 
ful organization. 
To lay out a plan on paper for an ideal system, and 
to put it into operation where the conditions are ideal, 
is not so difficult a matter ; but to graft on to an insti- 
tution of such conservative traditions as the Boston 
public-school system a branch essentially new, and at 
first sight not of apparent direct relationship, is a task 
of considerable magnitude. However good in itself, it 
must fit in with other subjects, and help and stimulate, 
rather than antagonize. It must prove its fitness not 
only as a part of general education, but as a positive 
educative force, before it can be regarded as having 
earned for itself a place in the school curriculum. 
We believe that so far as physical training has been 
developed in the Boston schools it has been along 
these lines. The seed has been deeply planted; the 
roots of the tree have taken firm hold. Hand-in-hand 
with the other branches taught it is working harmoni- 
ously and beneficially. Everywhere the committee 
have gone they have been gratified to find the interest 
manifested by teachers and scholars. There may have 
been exceptions, but only frequently enough to prove 
the rule. 
It is especially gratifying to find how thoroughly 
and carefully the teachers have taken bold. No sys- 
tem, however good, could succeed without this co-op- 
eration, and we must regard it as one proof of the ex- 
cellence of the present system that this interest has 3 
been aroused. One evident reason why so much good 
work has been accomplished with the pupils is that 
they are reacted on by and share in the enthusiasm of 
the teachers. The committee are convinced that all 
the teachers of the schools must themselves be able to 
teach physical training if it is to have enduring vital- 
ity. They must feel it as a part of their personal 
work, and not something outside of, and alien to, them- 
selves. Specialists to oversee and supervise there must 
necessarily be, but these should, when possible, be 
taken out of the regular school corps, and be experi- 
enced in the mental training and care of children. 
They will make all the better teachers of physical train- 
ing if they have first had the other kind. Probably in 
every school one of the regular teachers, with a fond- 
ness for physical training, can ultimately be detailed to 
look after that branch and see not only that by itself 
it receives proper attention, but also that its harmoni- 
ous correlation with other subjects is carefully pre- 
served. It stands to reason that this important mat- 
ter will best be understood by an all-round teacher. 
The teachers themselves will naturally need the in- 
struction of the best specialists, who, however, should 
never overlook the pedagogical side of the work. 
The present system, as understood by the committee, 
recognizes the need of regular instruction in physical 
training from the beginning of school life. To be of 
the greatest service it must begin early and be continued 
regularly each year to the end. Every year adds to 
its beneficial effects, both on body and mind, and it is 
not too much to say that it will have lasting influence 
on the health of the organism. Furthermore, we may 
look for the establishment of improved muscular co- 
ordination, which must result in more accurate and 
careful habits of mental action. It must not be for- 
gotten that in as far as we are training the body to 
quick, active and regular responses, we are at the same 
time training the mind in a similar manner. 
The Swedish system, as adapted for use in the schools, offers a great variety and diversity of exer- 
cises, and further enlivened with gymnastic games is 
unsurpassed for school work. But the committee wish 
especially to call attention to the need of apparatus in 
the higher grades of the work. The word “ appara- 
tus ” formerly suggested many expensive appliances, 
but it is one of the very great advantages of the Swed- 
ish system that it requires comparatively little appara- 
tus, and that of a simple and inexpensive character. 
Little by little the effort should be made to introduce 
some of this apparatus into the higher schools, until 
ultimately every boy and girl entering a high school 
can have the chance to make use of it. It is to be 
hoped, of course, that all new school buildings will 
have a large, well-ventilated and simply-finished hall 
for assembly purposes. In such a hall a few pieces of 
movable apparatus can be placed, occupying little room 
and not in any way detracting from its attractiveness. 
In the opinion of the committee, no better expenditure 
of money could be made for the health of the school 
children and for the promotion of the best interests of 
physical training than to introduce a few such pieces 
of Swedish apparatus into many of the present good- 
sized high or grammar school halls. The outlay in 
each school would be surprisingly small. 
The Girls’ Normal School may be especially men- 
tioned as quite lacking in all facilities for teaching 
physical training. The girls at the school, who are to go 
out as teachers, and have had perhaps several years of 
special instruction, are here deprived of every oppor- 
tunity for work, except on the most meagre scale. 
This is in every sense deplorable, for it disheartens, 
and in some cases interferes with the career of girls 
who might become valuable specialists, and it also re- 
acts unfavorably on their physical health. For the 
good of the schools, the normal school should, above 
all others, contain a large, well-equipped gymnasium, 
where all the girls may receive thorough and full in- 
struction. The normal school building appears to be 5 
quite unfitted for its present purposes, and the commit- 
tee very much hope the city may speedily have a bet- 
ter one. It is pathetic and depressing to see such a 
fine body of young women working under such serious 
disadvantages. 
In nearly all the schools visited the gymnastic work 
is done under serious disadvantages, both from the 
overcrowded condition of the schools and the narrow 
and contracted arrangement of the rooms and corridors 
in all of the old and some of the new buildings. The 
crowding of the school-rooms is shown by the very 
narrow aisles between the desks. Most of these were 
found to be not more than sixteen inches in width, 
and in a number of schools not more than fifteen 
inches. It is manifestly impossible for large grammar- 
school girls and boys to properly go through arm and 
leg movements which require plenty of room in such 
a limited space. It is difficult enough for small chil- 
dren, who require less room, but they can manage it 
after a fashion. In some schools with fairly ample 
corridors the pupils take some of their exercises in 
them, which is in every way to be commended, but un- 
fortunately the corridors are too cramped in most of 
the schools to make this possible. 
The committee would suggest the desirability of in 
creasing the width of aisles in all grammar schools to 
an average of at least twenty inches, and more 
would be better. This could only be done by remov- 
ing one row of desks, but it would seem desirable to 
do this whenever possible, not only to give more room 
for gymnastics, but also to promote better hygienic 
conditions. A smaller number of scholars in the 
school-rooms would be of very obvious advantage. In 
the primary schools a width of eighteen inches be- 
tween the desks would be none too much. 
The time allowed for gymnastics is at the present 
sixteen minutes daily. It is to be earnestly hoped 
that this length of time may in the future be con- 
siderably extended, so as to allow for a little work 6 
both in the morning and afternoon. It has been 
proved by Kraeplin and others that mental work is of 
a decidedly better character if there are periods of 
rest at certain intervals, and the committee believe 
that the school children would achieve better mental 
results if more frequent periods of physical activity 
could alternate with study periods. They would sug- 
gest the period for gymnastics be extended from six- 
teen to twenty minutes daily, the best use of this time 
to be arranged for by the director of physicial train- 
ing. 
The need of more school buildings must become ap- 
parent to any one who visits the Boston schools, and 
they should be urgently prayed for until the necessity 
for them is at least recognized. They need not be 
ornate or palatial, if only they contain large and well- 
ventilated rooms and ample corridors. Simple and 
not costly buildings would be of the greatest utility, 
if it were possible to erect such. In the meantime the 
committee would earnestly call attention to an adjunct 
of every good school, which may often be supplied 
with poor buildings. Cannot the city furnish grounds 
which may, for certain hours at least, be used by 
school children ? A considerable part of their physical 
training can be given them in playgrounds. 
Not to speak of outdoor gymnastic work, the num- 
ber and variety of games, both for boys and girls, has 
largely increased during recent years. It would be of 
the greatest advantage if some plan could be thought 
out which would give all the children, at stated inter- 
vals, an opportunity to make use of playgrounds 
under proper supervision, as part of their regular 
school work. It would, of course, be most convenient 
to have these grounds adjacent to the school buildings, 
but where this is not possible the children could be 
sent to them at regular intervals. 7 
To briefly recapitulate, the following are the chief 
points to which the committee take the liberty of 
directing attention: 
(1) The broad, comprehensive, and scientific charac- 
ter of the present system of physical training. 
(2) Its adaptability to the existing requirements of 
the school children. 
(3) The interest shown by both teachers and pupils. 
(4) The desirability of having all the teachers in- 
structed in physical training, as on them depends the 
success of the work. 
(5) The desirability of selecting special instructors 
in physical training from the regular school corps, 
rather than from specialists inexperienced in general 
school work. 
(6) The desirability of selecting one teacher as a 
local representative of the department in each school 
to supervise and take the responsibility of making the 
gymnastics a success. 
(7) The due recognition of the importance of pro- 
gression in the work from the beginning to the end of 
school life. 
(8) The Swedish system, with the addition of 
gymnastic games, is the best in regard to variety of 
exercises, 
(9) The necessity of apparatus of a simple charac- 
ter in high schools, and also in grammar schools to a 
less extent, if the system is to be adequately applied. 
(10) This apparatus can be placed in a hall with- 
out detracting from its attractiveness. 
(11) The lack of all facilities for teaching physical 
training in the Girl’s Normal School, which sends a 
poorer grade of teachers of this branch into the 
schools than would be otherwise necessary. 
(12) The importance of obviating this defect by 
providing for the Normal School girls a well-equipped 
gymnasium. 
SUMMARY. 8 
(13) The narrow, contracted aisles in the school- 
rooms, which probably do not average over sixteen 
inches in width, not allowing sufficient room for 
gymnastic exercises. 
(14) The desirability of increasing this width to 
twenty inches on the average, which could be done by 
lessening the number of pupils in the room, to their 
great benefit from a hygienic point of view. 
(15) The shortness of the time now allowed for the 
gymnastic exercises, which is sixteen minutes. 
(16) The importance of increasing it to at least 
twenty minutes daily. 
(17) The urgent need of larger and better play- 
grounds. New buildings should have ample grounds, 
but where children are obliged to attend existing 
schools with inadequate yard space they should, un- 
der proper supervision, be regularly taken to large 
play grounds, and there have opportunity for exer- 
cise. 
The members of your committee, as well as representa- 
tives of the Boston Homeopathic Association, appeared 
in June last before the “Joint Committee on Exami- 
nations and Hygiene and Physical Training,” of the 
Boston School Board, and discussed the suggestions 
set forth above, there being entire unanimity as to the 
wisdom, not only of the changes recommended but 
others brought out at the hearing, such as those in 
reference to military drill, for instance. 
At the meeting of the Boston School Committee, 
June 8, 1897, the following report was received: 
The Joint Committee on Examinations and Hygiene and 
Physical Training, after hearing the petitions for an in- 
creased amount of physical training in the public schools, 
beg leave to submit the following brief report: 
As the city becomes more densely populated the oppor- 
tunities for normal and healthy exercise by children be- 
come less and less. A generation ago the boys and girls 
in most parts of the city were within easy reach of open 
lots, or suburban spaces, where they could play active 
games; but with the growth of the city this is no longer 9 
true, and it has become necessary for the schools to supply 
a want unfelt in the past. 
The Swedish system of free movements in use in the 
primary schools is excellent as far as it goes, but it ought 
to be supplemented by a larger amount of physical train- 
ing. This is still more necessary in the grammar schools, 
where the free movements alone are far from sufficient for 
the needs of the older children. 
The additional time required cannot wisely be taken 
from the hours now devoted to study either in the primary 
or grammar schools; for the period of study in American 
schools is already shorter than that in the schools of other 
highly civilized nations, and the progress of the children 
in education is less rapid. There seems to be no reason, 
however, why in schools that have two sessions a part or 
the whole of the twenty-minute recess may not be profitably 
used for a system of games or light gymnastic exercises 
conducted under the direction of the teacher. The mental 
relaxation and the active movement, which constitute the 
real value of the recess, would be quite as great as they are 
at present. 
Among the pupils in the high schools the need of physi- 
cal culture is even greater. This is already supplied to 
some extent in the case of the girls by gymnastic exercises, 
which ought to be extended until in every high school there 
is a properly equipped gymnasium, and its use is a regular 
part of the curriculum. In the case of the boys the only 
physical exercise provided is that of military drill. Now 
it is the universal opinion of experts that the drill alone 
does not furnish the best kind of physical training; that it 
ought at least to be supplemented by regular compulsory 
work in a gymnasium. Such work might well be made 
preparatory to a somewhat abridged period of drill. A year, 
for example, might be devoted to it with great advantage, 
and every boy might be required to attain a certain stand- 
ard of development before he is placed in the school 
regiment. 
With a view to carrying out the suggestions em- 
bodied in this report the following order was adopted : 
Ordered, That the Board of Supervisors, together with 
the Director of Physical Training, be requested to prepare 
and put into operation a plan for giving effect to the 
recommendation of the foregoing report. 10 
Your committee understand that this order has been 
interpreted in a scientific and progressive spirit, and 
improvements and changes have been made in the sys- 
tem of physical training in the Boston public schools 
which will tend to markedly develop it in the right 
direction. If the gain that has been gradually made 
can be firmly held, and progress slowly continued 
along the same lines, there is no question that in the 
end, the public-school children of Boston will have 
physical training of a kind which will make them 
stronger and healthier citizens.