Kansa# Health end Physical Education Association
February, 1938
Vol. VII Bulletin No, &
EDUCATION FOR RECREATION IN KANSAS
by
Edgar P. Schmidt
State Director of Recreation, Works Prosress Administration, Kansas

All of us are very much concerned, directly or indirectly, with the indivicual
and collective problems of living. ‘the entire educational system has been built on
the basis of training for better living and the richer appreciation of life itself.
The school has an important duty to perform in the training of youth to canvass the
great variety of resources open to them and to choose intelligently for an enriched
life.

Our schools now recognize that leisure is a vital part of modern life and that
it will become increasingly important from time to time. JVihat the boy and girl of
today will’do with his or her lcisure time in the future, depends on how adequately
the children in the classroom become acquainted with these resources about then and
how well they develop their senses of values ann judgments for wise discrimination
between the good and the bad.

The American Physical Education Association has taken a very definite step in
the education for leisure timc by enlarging the scope of the Physical Education Pro-
gram to include not only Health and Physical Education, but a broader and newer
field, known as “Recreation”.

The program of Recreation, whether it be in the school or in the community,
should not be only a program of appreciation of the higher life values, but it must
be a performance program, - Action is essential ond it follows that the schools =
necessarily enlarge their scope of opportunities for practice through the contact
in the classroom, on the playground, athletic field and gymasium, and in the mceore.
ance of the regular school tasks,

It is conceded that many opportunities for performance can be presented on the
pleasure basis or through the recreational approach, Play is a natural phase in the
life of every normal child and should receive the same emphasis that is given to the
mental growth for a balanced character physically, mentally, and morally.

Youth necds joyous adventures in recreational activities that allow them to run,
to swim, to dance, to explore, to create things of beauty with their hands, and to
express themselves in self-satisfying ways in their daily living.

Training for leisure time can be approached by participation on the pleasure bas-
is in physical education, music, arts and crafts, drama, nature activities, hobbies,
and other recreational activities, as well as by such subjects as civics and the
social studies, Physical training and games have a very definite valuc in the train-
ing for cooperative community living. Man lives in social groups and since physical
activities are forms of behavior, the rccreational values are multiplied if the en-
joymert of the individual is shared by the group.

Participation in recreational arts and crafts will develop not only the skills
of the hand, self-reliance, dependability, perseverance, inventiveness; but also will
provide the boy and girl with definite leisure-time attitudes that will carry over in-
to adult living.

Music, if approached on the recreational basis, cannot be stressed too much be-
cause as an activity it is so closely related to so many aspects of life, and it is
always within the reach of evcory person as a form of beauty in itself,

Recreational drama presents another form of splendid opportunity for genuine
enjoyment for individuals or groups by allowing for the self-release of emotional
urges. :

The same values can be pointed out for activities in the field of nature through
such activities as hiking, collecting, camping, exploring, which bring genuine plea-
sure to the individual ond also encourage him to learn more about the plant and animal
life about him for practical use in his cnily living.

It has been said that the proper plece for much of this type of training should
be centered about the home rather than the school. Such is probably truc, but aus ta
the fact that the modern home does nct and cannot in every instance meet these preblon