Kansas Health and Physical Education Association
January, 19589

Vol. VIII

Bulletin No. 4

A Physical Education Curriculum for Kansas

Prof. C. S. Moll, Kansas

By

State College, Manhattan,

Guest Editor

In the United States of America there
is but one standard answer to the ques-
tion "Who shall be taught in our school
system?* and the reply is: Every child.
On the opposite extreme is the question
"Wheat shall be taught in th2 schcol syse
tem!” and for this thero are thousands
of answers. All shades of agrcement and
disagreement are apparent. Professional
opinion may be as divergent as expres=
sions. of laymen, and it frequently is.

To make homogeneity out of heterogeneity
is one of the stupendous tasks facing
every individual who considers himself a
part of the school system, in whatever
capacity that may be.

One of the functions of the curricu=—
lum is to provide some semblance of the
homogeneity referred to atove, The word
curriculum has had many connotations,
and the term has been used indiscrimin-
ately when other words would have served,
such as programs, courses of study, sub-
jects, units of instruction, etc, Former-
ly it has been necessary to distinguish
between curricular and so-called extra-=
curricular activities. If we accept the
idea that life experiences have supplant~
ed other factors as a basis of the currice
ulum, then there is but one definition
which will fill the requirement. Accord-
ingly, the curriculum consists of all
experiences under school control.

The state of Kansas is engaged in the
process of building a curriculum. Like
the Virginia Study of several years ago,
it is a eooperative venture. It is be-
ing built from the inside out, not from
the outside in. It is being made, not by
curriculum specialists to be imposcd up-=
on the teachers, but by both of these
groups together with administrators and
officials. The State Department of Pub-
lic Instruction and the Kansas State
Teachers Association are sponsoring this
huge undertaking. Miss Dale Zellor of
the Kansas State Teachers College,Emporia,
is heading up the work,

In practically every instance in the
past, physical education has not been
provided for when such a universal cur-
riculum has been in preparation, It has
been tacked on as an afterthought, with

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the usuel result that physical educators
have been regarded as not being in sym-
pathy with education generally, but
interested only in their special field. of
activities, Now there is an opportunity
to do some constructive work in having
physical education included in a state
curriculum, Sensing this, Miss Helen
Saum, President of our organization, ape
pointed a committee to work with the
people in charge.

The necd for inclusion of physical ed-
ucation is obvious to all of us. In caste
ing about for materials to comprise a
curriculum, it was found that the College
Physical Education Association had com=
pleted a nine-year study by a Committee
on Curriculum Research. This report meets
the needs of a graded curriculum; it is
sufficiently flexiole and adaptable to any
ordinary school situation regardless of
climatic or geographic condition or equip-
ment limitation. There is no intention
of railroading this thing through, but if
it is selected as a basis for the curric-
ulum in our state of Kansas, it would be
the first step, and incidentally the most
difficult one, in bringing about progress
which is sorely needed. Without progress
we are sunk. If you have any pride in
your profession, lend your support to this
most vital project in whatever manner you
are called upon,

000

REPORT OF CURRICULUM COMMITTEE
Edna McCullough, Chairman

The Curriculum Committce was appointed
last fall by Helen Saum, President of the
State Association to promote and improve
the status of Physical Education in Kansas,
We hope eventually to build up certain
progressive guides for curricula content
that can be used in the various school
levels, which will tend to unify and
standardize physical edueation in the
state, without limiting or restricting
any scnool or any teacher,

With those objectives in view, the com-
mittee met with State Superintendent
Markham in December. He graciously gave
us an hour of his time, encouraged us, and