Abstract
IN PLANNING for the return of peace, physical educators should give thought to two broad educational problems in the solution of which they can, if they will, play decisive r8les: first, the moral stability of student bodies immediately after the war, and second, the wise use of the leisure which will accompany the economic abundance probable in the next fifty years. Morality is the public opinion of a group which labels behavior desirable or undesirable, that is, good or bad. On college campuses it expresses itself in many ways but especially in student traditions, or what the sociologists call campus mores. These mores control large segments of student behavior and must not be judged to be limited to such superficial expressions as college songs, cheers, or rally bonfires. Instead, they must be recognized as kinds of social energy which determine the intellectual, social, and moral tones of every college and university campus. On some campuses, students cannot make friends with faculty members because the mores lead to the ticketing of students who seek out faculty members as apple polishers, suckers, or soupers. Similarly, on every campus certain kinds of girls may not be dated by certain kinds of men students not because of their intrinsic qualities but because of social tabus: for example, a member of Sigma Odium just wouldn't hink of inviting a member of Alpha Trivia to a danceit just isn't done even though the Alpha Trivia girl is altogether charming and lovely. Powerful mores control not only intellectual and social behavior but also the behavior that people generally consider under the term morality. Thus, on some campuses the mores oppose smoking, drinking, and necking. On other campuses the mores approve and even encourage if not enforce liberal conduct. After the last war the deeply embedded mores of college campuses were frequently uprooted by returned veterans. For example, the mores of many colleges against smoking and drinking were immediately discarded by students who, as soldiers, had learned to value both these releases from strain. A study made of this period by the writer has demonstrated the huge changes in the mores made under the impact of the prestige of returned soldiers who for several years dominated campus opinion. The Flapper Era was one of the
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