Athletics and GE

To the Editors of the CRIMSON:

"The goal of a general education provides a tone of tough-minded curiosity with the traits of mind; to think effectively, to communicate thought, to make relevant judgements, and to discriminate among values."

So runs the Harvard Report on General Education in a Free Society.

In the recent discussions of the Harvard football situation, it has been completely forgotten that the College's athletic program must orient itself towards the major aims of the educational process. Now there is not doubt that sports, even though played mainly for relaxation and exercise, can contribute toward instilling the attitudes and mental skills approved by "general education." We are endlessly bombarded with pretty sentiments about how contact with teammates develops the players discipline, self-confidence and a number of other social traits--all very true and very important. Still we should no overlook the fact that athletics provide a creative expression of a type not encouraged in the classroom. There is an intellectual as well as a social dimension to teamwork. Judgment, predictive insight, social intelligence can be sharpened immeasurably by experience on the playing field.

Obviously the kind of football towards which Harvard is being pushed--and it has come a long way on the road already--will contradict its educational aims. In the atmosphere of semi-professional football with its glorification of the Varsity, coaches fighting for survival, and intense competition, the player gains nothing from his participation in sports, that is, he gains nothing of legitimate value. Football, we say, has special conditions, special privileges; but we are not sufficiently sensitive to its professional attitude in football which is corrupting all other sports.

The best athletic program for Harvard would be one which would get as many people as possible into the courts, pools, and fields. This would be best accomplished by a broader scheme of intramural competition, incidentally strengthening the House system, and a more equitable emphasis on the "minor" sports. The inevitable rejoinder to this supposedly visionary project is the point that commercialized football pays for all Harvard athletics. But if the College recognizes that athletics are an inherent part of the educational program, as necessary of professors and laboratories, can it shun its obligation to defray the expenses of a complete enlightened, wholesome sports program? Michael J. Scully '46