FRESHMAN ATHLETICS

At its inception the present system of compulsory athletics for Freshmen was hailed as a signal contribution to the progress of physical education at Harvard. It aimed to establish in the Freshman year interest in sports which would be sufficient to insure active participation in later life. To this end each Freshman was forced to play some game three times a week under faculty supervision. This arrangement may be desirable in theory but in practice it merely antagonizes the student and, as attested by the recent position of protest, becomes another of the unpleasant duties of the first year.

The present system is justified by the assertion that if exercise were not compulsory some would not receive its beneficial results. This is the sort of logic upon which was based the old system of restrictions and regulations of all sorts. Dr. Eliot devoted himself to a destruction of this philosophy and the substitution of the current principles which place responsibility upon the individual and allow him maximum freedom to exercise his personal preferences. Compulsory physical exercise is in direct contradiction to this modern climate of opinion and should be abandoned. Freshmen should be offered facilities for exercise in informal groups such as those which now participate in House sports. Such an informal program has the added practical advantage, of permitting economies in the sorely taxed H.A.A. budget.