Lapp

Porry

Lapp

«20

tT am sure that helps solve the classification problem. Now, let us
go back to the interview studye In this same study the boys also made a
blanket statement about calisthenics. Wo do not like calisthenics",
they saye The investigator then asked what is calisthenics, and the boys
answered to a man that they were exercises that they did all period at
the command and comt of their instructors No wonder they did not like
them. When asked about 3 minutes of exercises to warm up, the same boys
thought calisthenics would be Oke Can you blame the boys for not liking
such an overdose? In comeotion with calisthenics, I had an experience
just this fall which left me wondering about the desirability of giving
only a few minutes of cal isthenics dailye In the Westport district of
Kansas City there is a place that makes, to my way of thinking, on excele
lent sandwich called a luscious hamburger. Often when in Kansas City I
stop in to test the quality of these luscious sandwichese Many of my
former students think the samo way as I do about these hamburger sand-
wiches, and I never fail to meet a student or two on each visite The last
time I stopped in to see if the quality was up to par, two boys came over
and sat down and we talked about old times, physical education classes,
and so forth. As the boys left they beth said, "Dre Lapp, we enjoyed our
work in your gym classes more than any work we had in school, but we still
don't like calisthenics." I used them for a few minutes at a time and had
no intention of overdoing the activity. It is possible to get the noeded
big muscle activity in se many agreeable ways that there is no good reason
for undesirable sports, games and drills, to be included in our programe
Physical education should be fune Dad, what has been your experience with
calisthenics?

Doc, Iti] agree that physical education should be fun, and maybe
calisthonics can be made fun, or at least more bearablee I used to use
calisthenics much more than I do at the present time. But I always
attempted to show the effeet the exercise would have on the boy by care-
ful explanation. That is, if the boys really understand that physical
education is to help make than physically fit, and if they desire to reach
this goal, then push-ups from the fleor with tho arms, or deuble leg
raising from lying on the back to strengthen the abdominal muscles, may
be made to appear desirable. Particularly would this be true if the boy
realized that he was low or below average in these strengths. This might
become satisfying or even fun to the individual concerned about his physie-
al needse

In the samo interview study it was found that some boys disliked
certain activities in physical educatione Several of the boys did not
like basketball. Why did they not like such a popular game? Because they
were not as good at it as the other boyse Why were they not as good os
the other boys in the same classes? The answer, when it was traced down,
was that these boys were graduated from the coumtry schools and had
arrived in these high school classes without the same preparation in the
playing of basketball. When asked if they would like to play, if they had
a chance to learn the rules and the techniques, the answer was yeSe The
same reason for the dislike of other activities was found. No boy who was
as good as average or better than average disliked the activities of the
program under questione It seems to me that we should spend more class