Monday, January 24, 2011
P.E. in the Civil War Time Period (1900)
Many leaders had an impact on physical education at this time period. P.E at this time started to grow in schools all over. In 1860 a man named Dioclesian Lewis created a system called "light" gymnastics. Men, women, and children got involved in his gymnastics. Lewis's goal was to improve everybodys health and well being. It was exercise to improve a persons cardiovascular system. In 1861 Lewis established the Normal Institute for P.E. in Boston to prepare teachers to teach his system in schools. Other things that Lewis taught future teachers was anatomy, physiology, hygiene, and gymnastics. It was a 10 week preparation program for teachers. This was the first teacher training program in the United States. This is a look at P.E. in the Civil War era. I got my information from the book called Foundations of P.E.. Exercise Science, And Sport. The authors of the book is Deborah A. Wuest and Charles A. Bucher
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Price, that was a really interesting post. I never knew that exercise was recognized for its importance to the health and well-being of people in the 1860's. I figured everyone got a lot of exercise just by trying to survive their hard lives. They worked from sun-up to sun-down and without transportation, did much walking. But Lewis had the knowledge and foresight to implement programs to inspire people to be fit.
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