[CHAPTER XIX]
PLAY
Motives for Cultivation of Physical Powers
Recent educational practice has laid great emphasis on the cultivation of children’s physical natures as well as their mental powers. This new emphasis on physical training is due in part to a recognition of the wisdom of extending education so as to include all sides of the individual. It is due in part also to the conviction that the only way to deal successfully with the ordinary work of the classroom is to provide the kind of change and relief which comes from physical exercise. Regular opportunities for play are accordingly provided in the schools of to-day, and an elaborate system of physical supervision is being developed in all the leading school systems. Some review of these movements will be appropriate by way of supplement to the general survey in earlier chapters of the activities of the school system.
Earlier Attitude toward Play
The school of a generation ago retained a good deal of the Puritan attitude toward play. One has only to recall the pandemonium which used to break loose at recess and at the time of dismissal to realize that there was a sharp distinction between school and play. In school one sat up straight and still; when one was free from school one let out all the pent-up inner impulses. The kind of play that was exhibited under these conditions was riotous, irregular, and aimless. Furthermore, the kind of play which was cultivated under these conditions did not carry over into later life. There was no system, no progression, in that play, and no cultivation of the inventiveness so necessary if the recreations of later life are to be intelligent.
Play as Natural Behavior
The change in attitude from that of the old-fashioned school to that of the modern school is traceable in part to practical experience and in part to a general and fundamental change in the philosophy of life. To-day there is the profoundest respect for all that is natural. The theological attitude of medievalism and of the Puritans that the body is the baser part of self has disappeared with the development of the biological sciences. The social sciences, too, have contributed the lesson that all human behavior is in accordance with certain natural laws. The philosophy of naturalism thus accepted has profoundly modified the views of parents and teachers with regard to the play impulse in children.
Periods in the Development of Play
Not only is play natural, but numerous scientific studies reveal the fact that in the animal world and in man’s life play contributes in no unimportant degree to the individual’s development. These scientific studies have shown that play follows definite lines of development. There is first the play of early infancy, which consists in the rhythmical movement of the limbs and in the grasping after objects which satisfy the senses. This is the period of the rattle. There is at this stage no regard for others, no social interest. Then comes a second stage, where play is made up of imitative acts. This is the period of the girl’s doll and of the boy’s kit of tools. The child’s attention is now centered on others and their doings, and this outward attention furnishes the individual with his models of action. Then come the plays of contest and competition, when the child, now of school age, matches himself against his companions in speed or strength. This is the period of running games. Imitation has ripened into the kind of rivalry which helps the individual to realize his personal powers. Following competition comes the period of team play, in which social union with some of one’s companions is combined with contest against others. The adolescent child is now becoming aware of the uses of social sympathy and co-operation. At each of these stages some of the earlier forms of play survive, and all ripen into the form of play characteristic of adult life, where the competitions are against intellectual obstacles more than against physical. Adult play demands skill and intellectual mastery of complex problems.