Looking Ahead in Secondary-School Athletics

Abstract

The large part which athletic activities play in the programs of secondary schools is evident to the casual observer. This prominence in the programs of the schools makes it necessary that these activities be carefully studied and supervised. In the general field of athletic activities, as in the field of any other extra-curriculum activity, there is a tendency for certain evils to develop unless the work of study and supervision keeps pace with the growth of the activities. The present report recognizes this need of study and attempts to indicate the direction in which athletic activities on the secondary-school level are moving and how certain problems are dealt with in a large number of selected schools. The data presented in these pages are taken from a report of the study of intramural and interscholastic athletics which is a project of the National Survey of Secondary Education. It is impossible to give here a resume of the findings of the complete study. Only a few phases of the larger inquiry can be drawn upon. The reader interested in the evidence on other phases will find it in the monograph containing the complete report soon to be published by the United States Office of Education.