Excerpt from Syllabus for Physical Education in the Schools of Rhode Island

A similar public policy was evidenced in the statute, en acted ih 1917, that authorizes school committees to establish and maintain at public expense clinics for the remedying of dental de fects and the treatment of the teeth of school children whose parents, after notice, neglect to take action. The law requiring physical edu cation was requested ih petitions addressed to the State Board of Education, which were signed by hundreds of persons professing an interest in the welfare of school children. There could be no serious question that a popular demand for physical educationexisted. The movement was promoted particularly by the Rhode Island Branch of the National Congress of Mothers and Parent Teacher Associations. A bill was prepared in the office of the Com missioner of Public Schools, and it was introduced in the General Assembly by the Honorable James M. Armstrong, Senator from East Providence and Chairman of the Committee on Education.

The law requires that every child over eight years of age who is attending any school, or who is being educated privately, shall re ceive instruction and practice in physical training, under such regu lations as the State Board of Education may prescribe or approve, during periods which shall average at least twenty minutes in each school day. To the teachers of the public and private schools of Rhode Island is entrusted the duty and responsibility of carrying this salutary legislation into effect - a duty and responsibility that should be met with the conscientious care and public spirit which characterize Rhode Island teachers. The essential and fundamental requirement of the law is twenty minutes of instruction or directed exercise for every child during every school day. This requirement must be met in school and in school time. This Syllabus for Physical Education has been prepared for the purpose of guiding teachers in meeting the requirements of the new law, and it presents a course of instruction planned to cover the eight grades of elementary schools and the four years of high schools.

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