THE COLLEGE PHYSICAL EDUCATION ASSOCIATION TO: Presidents, Examiners, Registrars of American Colleges and Universities SUBJECT: Credit for Military Training in Physical Education and Hygiene Your attention is called to the desirability of considering carefully the relationship between a veteran’s military experience and his educational qualifications in physical education. Experience with many return- ing men is indicating that in a large number of cases, perhaps the majority, there is no substantial reason to believe that either the hygiene learned in the service or the physical training given therein is the equivalent of, or should be substituted for, a modern college program of sports, recreation, and health instruction. The need for such experience after military service remains continuous and real. It is recommended, therefore, by the College Physical Education Association: 1) That the experience in physical education and hygiene while in military service be examined in in- dividual cases and equivalence be found before any blanket credit is given. If equivalence in content and type of physical education and hygiene cannot be established, no credit should be given. 2) That all men who have been injured in the service be interviewed carefully to determine (a) if an individualized program of recreational therapy will be helpful to them, (b) if either the normal or special program of physical education should be deferred for the time being, or (c) if physical education should be removed permanently from the schedule. Appropriate action should be taken only in relation to indi- vidual needs and not on a blanket basis. ! ) Although the American Council on Education in its Three Point Approach to Credit and Placement (February, 1943) recommends that “institutions . . . may well consider granting direct credit ... . for military training” for physical training and hygiene the College Physical Education Association believes the foregoing recommendations will meet the situation more adequately. It is believed that any extension of either blanket deferment or blanket credit for physical education or hygiene given for military experience may thoughtlessly deny the veteran the value of precisely the sort of recreational experience or rehabilitation he needs. Military physical training was not geared to civilian recreational needs and, moreover ,such military experience is a thing of the past whereas the need for par- ticipation in physical education is constantly a matter of the moment. In short, college examiners or registrars should, in full conjunction with responsible persons in physical education, deal with veterans individually. A program for the student can be arrived at after a considera- tion of his status and his needs. Blanket credit ought not be given on the false assumption that military physical training is equivalent to college physical education or that once “physically fit” for Army life the state of fitness or the skills by which it is attained remain. For the Executive Committee of the College Physical Education Association DELBERT OBERTEUFFER, President The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio February 26, 1945