Why do we teach gymnastics? / by Jakob Bolin.

  • Bolin, Jakob, 1863-1914.
Date:
1903
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Why do we teach gymnastics? / by Jakob Bolin. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    nasts, endeavored, in a letter, to show that in reality comparatively little of what had been credited to the Swedes by this conference was due them and empha- sized, on the other hand, such as came from the German system. Editorially, Dr. Gulick answered, saying in substance that we Americans want the best. We do not care from where it comes. If it is Swedish, let us have that. If it is German let us adopt it. But the fact is that the Swedes have tried to convince us, while the Ger- mans have to a great extent held aloof. We must, how- ever, all pull together. Again, Mr. Stecher wrote that he was sorry that the German system was not so well known among the Americans as might be desired, which was attributable in part to the fact that the Germans do not believe that gymnastics can be studied. from books, and circumstances had never driven them to give a complete exposition of their system and its methods in the English language. Dr. Gulick acknowledged the truth of this, but claimed that, after all, “principles can and should be stated.” Thus directly challenged, Mr. Stecher wrote a new letter, to which Dr. Gulick re- torted: “It does not seem to us that Mr. Stecher has stated the principles at all. At least he has not given us anything which would correspond to the principles that were given as underlying the Swedish system— nothing which would correspond physiologically to the Swedish Day’s Order, or the gymnastic progression. We wish we might secure such a statement, if the prin- ciples exist.”’* Now entered upon the arena Dr. E. H. Arnold, of New Haven, Conn., and read, at the tenth annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Physical Education, 1895, his paper, 1. Those who are directly interested in this controversy are re- ferred to the ‘‘Physical Education,’’ Vols. I-II.
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