SPRING PRACTICE

The Carnegle Foundation continues its blazes against overemphasis of athletics; Harvard begins spring football practice, and announces spring basketball practice, scheduled to begin in the middle of April. Overemphasis of athletics?

There is no good reason that people who enjoy passing and kicking a football in March as well as in November shouldn't be allowed to do so to their heart's content. Nor is it to be denied that the undergraduate body, as well as alumni and the players themselves, find more pleasure in a successful season than in an unsuccessful one; and if spring practice contributes to a successful season for a team, there are other reasons than the financial one for encouraging it.

Dangers, however, are inherent in the practice. If spring football practice becomes a compulsory matter, if it is looked upon by those who participate in it as a duty rather than a privilege, if the incentive becomes a desire for the rah-rah "die for dear old Rutgers" sort of glory characteristic of many colleges, rather than mere love of the game and a natural longing to excel in it, it is time to side with the Carnegie Foundation and condemn it as a pernicious institution.

Thus far, Mr. Bingham and his henchmen have pursued a very sane policy. The informal nature of the practice, its limitation to those who would not otherwise be taking part in spring athletics, and the voluntary basis of attendance, make it possible to reconcile it with the oft-proclaimed policy of "Athletics for All" on other grounds than the coldly material one of dollars and cents. There are indications, however, that it may develop into work rather than sport, into requirement rather than opportunity. A natural desire to balance future H.A.A. budgets by producing winning teams that will increase gate receipts does not justify more and more emphasis on the duty of spring practice. If it is to continue, it must be as a minor, unnecessary, unrequired institution. If it cannot continue in this form, it should be abolished.