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“Who is that woman?”: Female Physical Educators, 1890s–1940s

Martha H. Verbrugge

in Active Bodies: A History of Women’s Physical Education in Twentieth-Century America

Chapter 1 opens with a brief history of physical education as a profession in the United States from the 1890s through 1940s. It then focuses on white and black women who became gym teachers during ... More

Chapter 1 opens with a brief history of physical education as a profession in the United States from the 1890s through 1940s. It then focuses on white and black women who became gym teachers during these decades: their upbringing, interests, training, employment, work-related challenges (such as inadequate resources, facilities, and administrative authority), professional activities, and personal lives. As second-class members of a new, seemingly non-academic field, early female physical educators emphasized notions of gender to accommodate as well as resist the disadvantages they faced at educational institutions. The chapter includes biographical sketches of prominent and lesser-known women; data on the careers and marital status of physical education graduates of several Midwestern universities; and detailed descriptions of the hiring process at Hampton Institute and Spelman College.Less

Body, Science, and Difference in the Gym

Martha H. Verbrugge

in Active Bodies: A History of Women’s Physical Education in Twentieth-Century America

The introduction reviews broad changes and persistent inequities in American physical education during the twentieth century. Students’ experiences in the gym varied considerably by gender, race, ... More

The introduction reviews broad changes and persistent inequities in American physical education during the twentieth century. Students’ experiences in the gym varied considerably by gender, race, sexuality, and class, as did the status of their teachers. The introduction presents the book’s central argument about physical education’s unique power to embody and/or challenge these social disparities. Applying scientific ideas about sex differences and the relative role of nature versus nurture in human development, teachers devised instructional programs and competitive activities that seemed appropriate for female students. Physical educators also deployed concepts of gender and race to bolster their own professional authority. The introduction ends with summaries of the book’s individual chapters and overall structure.Less

The Body of the Citizen-Soldier Physical Education and the State

Joan Tumblety

in Remaking the Male Body: Masculinity and the uses of Physical Culture in Interwar and Vichy France

This chapter explores the conceptual and institutional links between physical culturist ‘experts’ and the public powers: the former often functioned as lobbyists or advisers with close ties to ... More

This chapter explores the conceptual and institutional links between physical culturist ‘experts’ and the public powers: the former often functioned as lobbyists or advisers with close ties to government. The chapter shows how the hygienist concerns about male physical failure discussed in the first chapter resonated in public debates about reducing the length of military service, about the physical state of French conscripts, and about the alleged intellectual overwork in schools. In official circles the language of degeneration and the ‘improvement of the race’ was strikingly pervasive, crossing conventional party political lines and finding expression even in the physical education policies of the Popular Front governments of 1936–8. The purchase of these concerns was reflected very clearly by the fact that in the 1937 Paris world's fair the category featuring sport and physical education also included eugenics.Less

Some Relations Of Physical Training To The Present Problems Of Moral Education In Americ

Josiah Royce

in Race Questions, Provincialism, and Other American Problems: Expanded Edition

This chapter suggests the correlation of teachers of physical education with that of others who are engaged in moral education. It also summarizes the theses upon which ... More

This chapter suggests the correlation of teachers of physical education with that of others who are engaged in moral education. It also summarizes the theses upon which Royce's “Philosophy of Loyalty” is based, as well as a direct application of these theses to a special practical problem of education. Originally an address to the Boston Physical Education Society, Royce argues that physical training could directly support the effort to teach loyalty to youth. Here again, there is a strong connection to the social reform movements of the day, such as the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA). Part of the effort to transform urban communities into environments that fostered growth and citizenship included athletic training. Royce suggests that physical training could make four contributions to the general effort to foster loyalty.Less

The Professionalization of Physical Culture: Making and Measuring Whiteness

Lundy Braun

in Breathing Race into the Machine: The Surprising Career of the Spirometer from Plantation to Genetics

Chapter 3 examines the use of spirometer in physical education at U.S. college and universities and its role in monitoring and marking Anglo-Saxon manhood and womanhood.

Who Killed the New Man?

Maxine Leeds Craig

in Sorry I Don't Dance: Why Men Refuse to Move

Drawing on archival sources and Tarzan, Babbitt, The Virginian, and Penrod, this chapter follows the ascendancy of dance as a popular amusement in the 1910s and 1920s and the initial class ... More

Drawing on archival sources and Tarzan, Babbitt, The Virginian, and Penrod, this chapter follows the ascendancy of dance as a popular amusement in the 1910s and 1920s and the initial class differentiation and ultimate convergence of the social organization of dancing. It begins with debates among educators regarding whether dance should be included in boys’ physical education, and then analyses adult social dance. Dance was the most popular form of mixed-gender recreation, but was challenged by social reformers who sought to regulate or eliminate dance halls. These campaigns developed at a time of public hostility toward European immigrants. They promoted conceptions of normative adult masculinity that depended on its distance from an array of masculinities that they marked as immature, feminized, foreign or immoral. By the end of the 1920s these problematic associations surrounded dancing men and kept many men, who wished to be seen as mature and dignified, off the dance floor. Dance remained acceptable for college students.Less

Progress and Race: Vitality in Turn-of-the-Century Britain

Lundy Braun

in Breathing Race into the Machine: The Surprising Career of the Spirometer from Plantation to Genetics

Chapter 4 examines the spirometer in physical education in mid-nineteenth century Britain and its later use by Francis Galton as part of a test for “bodily efficiency” that he considered useful in ... More

Chapter 4 examines the spirometer in physical education in mid-nineteenth century Britain and its later use by Francis Galton as part of a test for “bodily efficiency” that he considered useful in civil service examinations when there was anxiety over “race deterioration.”Less

Physical Education Teachers

Jeffrey J. Martin

in Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology

As noted in Chapter 36, children with disabilities have varied experiences in inclusive physical education (PE) settings. The purpose of this chapter is to review the research on inclusive PE ... More

As noted in Chapter 36, children with disabilities have varied experiences in inclusive physical education (PE) settings. The purpose of this chapter is to review the research on inclusive PE teachers and other educators in supporting roles. A fairly robust finding in the adapted PE literature is that many teachers have minimal to zero education in adapted PE and minimal experience teaching adapted PE. As a result, teachers often lack teacher efficacy and feel ill-prepared to teach children with disabilities. Despite teachers’ lack of experience and confidence, many still have positive attitudes toward teaching children with disabilities, although their attitudes are often linked to their perceived competence. Research on support personnel, such as peer tutors, teacher’s aides, and adapted PE specialists, indicates that they have the potential to enrich experiences of children with disabilities. However, their lack of training and challenges compromises their ability to deliver quality adapted PE. Teachers face many significant and daunting challenges to providing children with disabilities quality PE experiences.Less

Desk Diseases

Michael Zakim

in Accounting for Capitalism: The World the Clerk Made

Capitalist life was plagued by an epidemic of nervous disorders, a somatic expression of the prevailing ethic of “goaheadtiveness” and the price men paid for having abandoned the productive arts. But ... More

Capitalist life was plagued by an epidemic of nervous disorders, a somatic expression of the prevailing ethic of “goaheadtiveness” and the price men paid for having abandoned the productive arts. But these “desk diseases” also served to bring the age’s disorder under control, doing so, moreover, on individualism's own fitful terms. “Every human being is responsible for the care of his own health, and the preservation of his own life,” as Edward Jarvis determined in a Primary Physiology for Schools, instructing pupils and families alike that illness was no longer to be considered a heavenly punishment visited upon humanity in retribution for its sins, but a condition “of our own begetting” whose cure would issue from the same source, that is, would also be of our own begetting. Proper methods of bathing, sleeping, eating, and exercising consequently emerged as the tenets of liberal self-government, training individuals in how to minister their own bodies, and, in so doing, secure the welfare of the body politic. Disease, as such, brought a welcome dose of organic certainty to a tautological age in which success had become its own reward.Less

Physical Education Students

Jeffrey J. Martin

in Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology

Physical education (PE) is a potentially major site for delivering physical activity (PA) and sporting opportunities to children with disabilities. Most children with disabilities are officially ... More

Physical education (PE) is a potentially major site for delivering physical activity (PA) and sporting opportunities to children with disabilities. Most children with disabilities are officially enrolled in inclusive PE classes with mostly able-bodied children. The purpose of this chapter is to review the psychological-oriented research done in adapted PE that speaks to the PE experiences of children with disabilities. Children with disabilities have a wide range of experiences in PE. On the negative end are reports indicating that many children with disabilities are inactive and culled off to the side of the gym or playing field because teachers are unable and unwilling to adapt the activity to include children with various disabilities. Other negative experiences include being teased; children with disabilities are seen as different. In other cases, children with disabilities are simply ignored. On a more encouraging note, children with disabilities have positive experiences and develop sport and PA skills and enjoy the social interactions of other children. Researchers have also investigated the experiences of able-bodied children that occur from interacting with children with impairments.Less

Globalizing Spirometry: The “Racial Factor” in Scientific Medicine

Lundy Braun

in Breathing Race into the Machine: The Surprising Career of the Spirometer from Plantation to Genetics

Chapter 5 tracks the spirometer as it moved among the U.S., Britain, and South Africa at a moment when users recognized the pressing need to distinguish between “normal” and “abnormal” lung capacity.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization: Advancing Global Health through Human Rights in Education and Science

Audrey R. Chapman and Konstantinos Tararas

in Human Rights in Global Health: Rights-Based Governance for a Globalizing World

This chapter focuses on the human rights work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its interconnection with initiatives relating to global health. ... More

This chapter focuses on the human rights work of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and its interconnection with initiatives relating to global health. Embedded in its Constitution, the promotion of human rights has been a component of UNESCO’s activities across its fields of competence since the first years of its existence. Although global health is not central to its mandate, many of UNESCO’s programs are either inextricably connected to global health or have contributed to UN initiatives promoting public health and the right to health. This is showcased through an overview of UNESCO’s efforts on: (1) standard-setting and monitoring; (2) rights in education; and (3) rights in science. Enabling factors for a stronger human rights articulation of UNESCO’s global health initiatives are the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as a rights-based common standard of achievement and the resulting inter-agency cooperation and coordination.Less

Learning Loyalty

Mathew A. Foust

in Loyalty to Loyalty: Josiah Royce and the Genuine Moral Life

This chapter joins Royce in tracing the origins and development of ethical experience. Because for Royce, the genuine moral life is one of loyalty and loyalty to loyalty, in articulating a Roycean ... More

This chapter joins Royce in tracing the origins and development of ethical experience. Because for Royce, the genuine moral life is one of loyalty and loyalty to loyalty, in articulating a Roycean view of the cultivation of loyalty, a Roycean picture of moral development is presented. It is noted that for Royce, a person may be regarded as a human life lived according to a plan. For Royce, an individual says who he is by describing his purposes and causes, what he intends to do in his life. The chapter joins Royce in tracing the formation of “plans of life” as far back as infancy. Among sources consulted are unpublished psychological writings of Royce’s, bearing compelling similarity and relevance to his published writings on loyalty. It is argued that imitative processes in infancy and childhood are precursors to loyalty, and ethical experience generally, in its mature forms. In addition, Royce's attention to the learning of loyalty in adolescence and adulthood is discussed, with emphasis placed on physical education in adolescence and the significance of “lost causes” in adulthood.Less

• Social and Intellectual Environment

Clive Brown

in A Portrait of Mendelssohn

Several first-hand accounts offer a glimpse into Felix Mendelssohn's environment and activities, as well as the people who belonged to his close circle during his teenage years in Berlin. Eduard ... More

Several first-hand accounts offer a glimpse into Felix Mendelssohn's environment and activities, as well as the people who belonged to his close circle during his teenage years in Berlin. Eduard Philipp Devrient noted how the regular intellectual and musical gatherings that took place in the Mendelssohn household contributed to Felix's development. Foreign musicians provided endless entertainment and suggestions to Felix and his sister Fanny. There was also provision for physical education. According to Devrient, Karl Klingemann (later regarded by Mendelssohn as his closest friend) aroused Felix and Fanny Mendelssohn's sympathy in Jean Paul Richter. Another important account comes from Julius Schubring, who describes Mendelssohn's social and intellectual environment during the years immediately before he traveled to Britain and Italy.Less

Social Barriers

Jeffrey J. Martin

in Handbook of Disability Sport and Exercise Psychology

People with disabilities often face social barriers to physical activity (PA). The purpose of this chapter is to survey research on the most common social groups who limit or prevent people with ... More

People with disabilities often face social barriers to physical activity (PA). The purpose of this chapter is to survey research on the most common social groups who limit or prevent people with disabilities from being involved in sport and exercise. Many people with disabilities, especially those with severe disabilities, may need personal assistance to engage in PA, and a lack of personal assistance is often an obstacle to PA. Children with impairments report that not having someone to play with makes them disinclined to engage in PA. When parents are fearful of their children getting hurt in sport they can become barriers to their children’s PA. Various healthcare professionals working in assisted living settings may prevent adequate PA when they view it as harmful to individuals with disabilities and refuse to help patients be active. Community, recreation, and fitness facility personnel can be viewed as barriers when they exhibit dismissive attitudes toward individuals with impairments who wish to engage in exercise and sport. Physical education teachers lacking academic preparation and confidence in adapting games and sports for students with disabilities act as impediments to PA. Thus many people in the social worlds of individuals with disabilities actively and passively limit their ability to engage in PA.Less

Impossible to Ignore

Roger R. Tamte

in Walter Camp and the Creation of American Football

Though valuing physical education and college sports for improving students’ physical condition and discipline, Harvard’s president, Charles W. Eliot, had come to believe in 1882 that college sports ... More

Though valuing physical education and college sports for improving students’ physical condition and discipline, Harvard’s president, Charles W. Eliot, had come to believe in 1882 that college sports are demanding too much time and effort from students, brought on by a drive toward a “professional standard of excellence.” Eliot wants college sports at the level of “amateurs who are amusing themselves.” He tries to interest other college presidents in faculty oversight of intercollegiate competition with interinstitutional cooperation. Yale and other schools refuse, but Harvard sets up a faculty athletic committee to regulate Harvard’s athletics, and the committee begins to impose the limits Eliot is seeking.Less

Black Lungs and White Lungs: The Science of White Supremacy in the Nineteenth-Century United States

Lundy Braun

in Breathing Race into the Machine: The Surprising Career of the Spirometer from Plantation to Genetics

Chapter 2 explores the uptake of the spirometer in the U.S. where it was used to study racial difference in a large anthropometric study at the end of the Civil War. While Frederick Hoffman drew on ... More

Chapter 2 explores the uptake of the spirometer in the U.S. where it was used to study racial difference in a large anthropometric study at the end of the Civil War. While Frederick Hoffman drew on this study to argue that blacks were not fit for freedom, black intellectuals vociferously contested the interpretation of the data.Less