History of Physical Education
The field of physical education has gone through many cycles
over its long history. These cycles range from a strict
authoritarianism to the liberal democracy of today. This
transformation to the democracy has opened the field of
physical education and sport up to many new sciences, which
are creating many new professional opportunities. If the cycles
of physical education continue, these new professions will
hopefully pave the way to future discoveries and studies of
physical education.
*Physical education is education by means of physical
activities that meet the needs of the individual involved. It is
the method whereby the physical, mental, social and
emotional well-being of an individual is enhanced through
participation in activities that places emphasis on the
components of fitness – strength, endurance, flexibility, speed,
and skills.
Primitive Society
Primitive man moves according to their satisfaction, needs
and necessity. They just live by means of hunting such wild
animals in the forest, or by fishing along the rivers, streams
and sometimes they engage in warfare, murder to insure their
protection from adverse elements or a hostile environments.
Physical activities were not organized by them.
Because their motives about this are for searching foods and
protect themselves from their enemies, their gregarious nature
was innate and driven only by mating and propagation that
gives them desire to dance and play which not being
organized.
Ancient Societies
Ancient Egypt and Sumer
Ancient Sumer was named the “cradle of civilization” because
of them being the first known civilized nation. They valued law
and order and believed they existed to serve gods and became
representatives of gods.
The human body was rarely used as a subject of Sumerian
artists. “Nakedness expressed humiliation and subjection”
(Olivova, 1984). Sport was mainly for the rich and Kings. Lion
hunting displayed the warrior and the aristocrats displayed
courage and their athletic ability.
Ancient Egypt (3000 BC) as other societies showed that
activities were done by the rich. Sports were a means by
which famous Egyptian monarchs represented themselves to
their people. Monarchs exhibited physical strength, courage
and ability to engage in various athletic activities. Though
military wasn’t a major objective, soldiers had to go through
harsh and physically demanding training in combat sports
because of constant threat to war. Activities involved
swimming, hunting, dance, rowing, wrestling, fishing, ball
games, and archery.
In the Ancient Oriental Countries, china concerned
only by their intellectual excellence they neglecting physical
activities however some are believes about the importance of
this to the body and has a spirit. And this was only a riches
and favored class this was music, dancing and archery. Like
in split feather dance, whole feather dance, battle dance and
the humanity dance which popular by them.
Medical Gymnastics has developed as early as 2698
BC, people had felt illness because of their sedentary life
which caused them to realize the importance of physical
activities. The “Kung Fu” as an earliest exercise in the history
that they contributed like in Ancient China, “Yoga” has been
contributed also by Indian people that composed of exercises
the posture and regulates breaths. This exercise has been
accepted by people as the important activity to discipline
minds and body.
The purpose of physical education has changed over different
time periods and as a result of ever-changing socio-cultural
events. Some civilizations use the practice of physical
education to prepare for war, some for profit, and some for a
general all-around development.
Three ancient cultures are of particular importance to
development of physical education. The Athenian Greeks, the
Spartan Greeks, and the Romans each had their own beliefs
about the mind, body, and spirit. While these early
civilizations valued physical development to varying degrees,
they are all worthy of examination within a sport and physical
education context.
The Spartans and Athenians were the first to have a type of
physical education. Though very different, both systems
served the people and their needs.
The Spartan society desired that all male citizens become
successful soldiers with the stamina and skills to defend their
city as members of a Spartan phalanx. Thus, only the
healthiest male babies born to Spartan citizens were allowed
to live. A council convened at the birth of each male child with
the purpose of examining the baby for defects and signs of
weakness. After examination, the council would either rule
that the baby was fit to live or would reject the baby
sentencing him to a death by abandonment and exposure.
The Spartan system was similar to a dictatorship. In Sparta,
the state was held in the highest regard. The affairs of the
state were always of greater importance than the individual.
The singular goal of the Spartans was serving the state.
The concept of dualism was prevalent in the Spartan city-
state. Dualism, which means a separation of mind and body,
can take two forms. Society may view the mind as more
important than the body, or they may view the body as more
important than the mind.
The Spartans emphasized the body over the mind. The
Spartans goals were to win at all costs. Spartan boys learned
to be cunning, to lie, to cheat, to steal, and they learned how
to get away with it.
Male children were taken at the age of seven to learn basic
military skills while living in barracks. When the children
reached the age of fourteen, they began learning group
fighting tactics which would allow them to succeed while in
the military from the ages of twenty to thirty.
Once thirty, the men could then marry a woman who had
been doing some training of her own in order to make strong
babies.
The philosophy of the Spartans was basically to allow them to
invade other countries if desired, and to prevent other
countries from invading them.
The philosophy of the Athenians was quite different compared
to the Spartans. The Athenian culture was very democratic,
and focused on training the mind and body. Reading and
writing was a large part of society as well as physical activity
which took place in the center of the city where the
gymnasium was located.
In ancient Athens, the all-around citizen was valued. To the
Athenians, physical education was necessary to achieve all-
around mental, moral, and physical excellence. The Greek
gods personified this idea. The 12 main gods of the Olympic
Council possessed superior intellectual and physical
capabilities, such as strength, endurance, agility, and bravery.
They personified the Greek Ideal, which emphasized the unity
of the “man of action” with the “man of wisdom”.
“The Greek Ideal became the Athenian Ideal as this city-state
sought to provide an educational system that encouraged
boys to develop their physical and mental abilities”.
Boys improved their physical prowess in order to prepare for
war and also to depict the aesthetic beauty of the body. In
Athenian society, the idyllic body was harmoniously
proportioned, alert, and physically fit for both civil and
military duties. Boys could become citizens at 18 yrs and
between 18 – 20 were subject to military services
Women had a very different role in Athenian society. The girls
remained at home with their mothers and received little or no
education. They were secluded to the home after marriage.
Some other cycles in physical education that we have evolved
from are that of the Romans, the dark ages, and the crusades.
The Roman era is a bit disturbing, but is nonetheless a cycle
of physical education. Physical education for the Romans was
about athletics, which was primarily about entertainment.
People were forced to fight to the death, and oftentimes fed to
lions.
The Romans differed greatly from the Athenian Greeks in their
emphasis on the all-around citizen. “With the possible
exception of Greek music, most Romans were not comfortable
with the all-around development of man that emphasized the
aesthetic and educated aspects of Greek culture” (Mechikoff &
Estes, 1993, p.37). The purpose of physical training for
Roman citizens was solely to make them “obedient,
disciplined, and ready to be a warrior” (Mechikoff & Estes,
1993, p. 42). In Rome, the Campus Martinus was served as a
place for fathers to teach their sons physical abilities
necessary for entering into manhood and then into the
military. Running, jumping, swimming, wrestling,
horsemanship, boxing, fencing, and archery were taught.
Absolute obedience to commands was emphasized at the
Campus Martinus (Mechikoff & Estes, 1993, p.43). These
activities served two purposes. One purpose was to educate
the boys in basic military skills. Secondly, by participating in
physical activity, the boys could improve their general health
and fitness. They enjoyed exercising and keeping their bodies
in shape. “The Romans were quick to accept the concept of
health gymnastics because the maintenance of health was a
worthwhile and natural goal for them” (Mechikoff & Estes,
1993, p.43). Ancient Romans considered physical training for
women simply as entertainment and unnecessary. The women
engaged in swimming, dancing, as well as tossing the ball
back and forth. Women that participated in weight-training
exercises to tone muscles were considered fashionable
(Mechikoff & Estes, 1993, p.45).
While physical education in ancient Rome was mainly for
military reasons, sport and competition had become
entertainment for the masses. Unlike the Greeks, who thrived
on competing in the events during their festivals, the Romans
became a nation of spectators and not participants. Fights in
the Colosseum and the horse and chariot races at the Circus
Maximus provided large-scale entertainment and was
extremely popular (Mechikoff & Estes, 1993, p.46).
They enjoyed watching slaves, Christians, criminals, and
other political prisoners engage in brutal competitions ending
in death. These are the people known as Roman gladiators.
Roman gladiators also consisted of free men who volunteered
to participate in the games (“Roman,” 2000). The Romans
preferred to watch the free men, although the slaves were
well-liked entertainment. By becoming gladiators, these lower
class free men gained the admiration and popularity of the
wealthy Roman citizens. Criminals that had committed a
capital crime had to fight in the gladiatorial arena without
weapons. All other criminals had formal training in private
gladiator schools.
The crumbling of the Roman Empire, which was conquered by
Barbarians from Northern Europe, symbolized the beginning
of a millennium of intellectual standstill. However, these
occurrences were beneficial with respect to fitness. The lavish
lifestyles of the Romans had resulted in the complete
deterioration of the society's fitness level. Physical weakness,
moral weakness, lack of exercise resulting in poor health, love
of idleness.
The barbaric tribes from Northern Europe possessed similar
characteristics to primitive people. Their lifestyle consisted of
hunting and gathering food, and tending to cattle. Physical
activity and fitness were prerequisites for survival. Therefore,
despite the cultural setbacks that occurred with the fall of the
Roman Empire, fitness experienced a revival during the Dark
and Middle Ages.
During the dark ages, religion viewed physical education as a
waste of time and a work of the devil. The dark ages were a
very sedentary time for human civilization. There were two
schools of thought, asceticism and scholasticism. Asceticism
means doing away with the worldly things. Scholasticism
means intellectual development and acquisition of knowledge
through education. Contribution towards physical education
during the dark ages were not noteworthy.
Then came the rise of feudalism ( A political system in the
middle ages) that only few powerful individuals called Nobles
had rights to own lands. The common people had to work the
land and produced the goods for the use of the land. There
were no need for physical education because life was a
physical test to live. Physical education for the young was for
war. Combat activities, archery, wrestling were sports for the
nobles.
Following the dark ages in approximately 1096, were the
crusades. The crusades were a time of muscular Christianity,
because of the Muslims conquering Jerusalem. Muscular
Christianity is basically Christians believing that the more one
trained to become good soldiers, the more Christian a person
was. In 1270, the crusades ended and so did the thought of
physical education being worthwhile until approximately 1400
when the renaissance period began.
Physical education during the renaissance period is quite
similar to physical education today. It is done to better
oneself, not to be doing something for someone else.
Accompanying this time period was a renewed interest in the
human body. Once again, the ancient Greek ideals, which
glorified the human body, gained widespread acceptance.
Civilizations that recognized the importance of fitness needed
an avenue to convey this knowledge to their people. Therefore,
fitness and physical education share a common bond.
Physical education became the tool used to spread the value
and benefits of fitness throughout society. School programs,
primarily in ancient Greece, had previously recognized the
necessity for curriculums involving physical education. The
renewed appreciation for human life, which evolved during the
Renaissance, created an environment which was ready for the
widespread development of physical education throughout
Europe.
During the 1700's, there was a big change in physical
education that can be largely attributed to three people:
Rousseau, Johan Simon, and Guts Muths.
Rousseau was the first person to promote education for the
masses and he also thought of play as being educational. In
1712, Rousseau invented an activity that is still used by
millions of children every day, recess.
Johan Simon was the first physical education teacher and
believed physical education should be taught along with
reading and writing. Simon believed physical education
should include a lot of physical labor.
Johann Christoph Friedrich Guts Muths developed a series of
gymnastic apparatuses and believed physical education
developed very important social skills. These people of the
1700's and the things they did began paving the road to where
we are today.
Johann Bernhard Basedow established a school which was
the first school in modern Europe that offered a program
where physical education was a part of the curriculum.
During the 1800's, physical education programs were finding
their way into universities which contributed to many things
we have today. New sports were being invented, intramurals
were being brought into schools, women began exercising,
gymnasiums could be found in most colleges, and many
recreational areas and parks were being built in order to
decrease the crime rate.
This continued on into the 1900's which brought on the
creation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association to
regulate college athletics, and the golden age of sports during
the 20' and 30's.
During this golden age of sport, the number of people in sport
increased dramatically, the number of teachers increased, and
physical education began moving toward the involvement of
sport. In 1941, World War II began which brought a big shock
along with it. Of the first 2 million males drafted, 45% failed
their physical. With this, physical education began to be very
strongly pushed in schools in order to improve the health of
the American people.
Since W.W. II, the United States has continued to press the
importance of physical education, which brings it to where it
is today, a highly complex field with many different sub-
disciplines. The sub-disciplines are:
--"Exercise physiology, which is the study of bodily systems
and their reactions to the stress of exercise.
--Kinesiology, which is the study of how the muscular system
moves the bony structure of the body.
--Biomechanics, which is the study of the human body as a
mechanical system, utilizing principles and applications from
physics.
--Motor learning, which is the changes in motor performance
related to experience and practice.
--Sport sociology, which is the social structure, social
patterns, and social organization of groups engaged in sport.
--Sport Psychology, which is the stud of behavioral and
psychological issues and problems in sport.
--Sport pedagogy, which is the study of the processes of
teaching and coaching, the outcomes of such endeavors, and
the content of fitness, physical-education, and sport-
education programs." (Siedentop)
These sub-disciplines have created many new jobs for people
in the field of education, and will surely branch off to form
others in the future.
Physical education has definitely come a long way since the
Spartans and Athenians. From an authoritarian type system
to promoting lifespan physical education with many sciences
studying the different intangibles of physical education in
order to better the mind and body. These new sciences have
obviously broadened the "umbrella of physical education", but
when looking to the future, there really is no end in sight. The
growing "umbrella" will continue getting larger as new
thoughts and ideas come, and with them, new sciences also.
