A Sound Mind...

"You see, you're using your trapezius," the voice remonstrated, "you should be pulling in real hard with your rhomboideus."

We followed the voice into Mrs. Nate Parker's Body Mechanics class, one of Radcliffe's favorite ways of satisfying Physical Education requirements. We discovered a small room, whose pink walls were sprinkled with neuter anatomical charts that compensated in bulging muscles for what they lacked in personality. On the floor were ten silver-grey plastic mats, occupied by ten girls in neat white blouses and neat blue shorts. They were learning "The Art of Relaxation" and "The Correction of Posture Faults." We had missed the relaxing session that opens each class, but we had arrived in time for the metatarsal arch contest.

"Socks off, "Mrs. Parker ordered, and there was an expectant hush while she picked a winner. The losers sulked prettily and than gathered around the winner to inspect her in envy. Metatarsal arches are important to the class, the instructor said, because the participants are taught how to walk well on them. "Of course girls naturally swing more than boys would," Mrs. Parker continued, "because they have a wider base to work on."

For its next exercise, the class was told to stretch their pectoral mucles. Mrs. Parker had proved the efficiency of this exercise before the class by showing us a newspaper of four debs in strapless formals, and asking us to choose the two that came from Radcliffe. We were right. She maintains that Harvard's postures are, in general, worse than Radcliffe's, probably because boys concentrate on athletics and girls on attractiveness.

These are physical causes for improved Radcliffe postures, but Mrs. Parker has to deal with psychological problems, too. "Some of the girls get self-conscious as they get older," she explained, "and always walk around all slumped over." Slumped, but unbowed, we agreed and took our leave.