nations as they march into the stadium, realizing that they have the honor of being selected as the top athletes of their countries and that they have finally achieved the greatest honor that can come to an athlete to be allowed to participate in the Olympic Games.

Among the group will be Olympic veterans, world record holders, and many who have won the right to compete in this great competition for the first time. For a period of three short weeks, the attention of sports fans all over the world will be focused on the results about which millions of words will be writ

ment can be substantiated by the quality of performances in the tryouts in the various nations.

The winners of the Olympic Games will be be truly Olympic champions, but honor and tribute will be given to all those who compete. They will have the unique experience of living in an Olympic village, together with the top athletes of the world. They will have the opportunity to make many friendships, to practice together, and finally finally to compete against each other.

From this association and competition can come a great mutual understanding and a knowledge of other countries and other peoples,

To many uninformed people, getting a team ready for the Olympic Games simply means having try-outs and getting the best available talent selected and sent to the Games. Actually, the nations which have achieved success in Olympic competition have gone far beyond this. and this is where physical fitness enters in.

It is true that occasionally top athletes spring from nowhere. They are simply fortunately endowed with physical abilities that make them unbeatable in competition. These individuals are rare indeed. The great majority have spent years of train(Concluded on page 61)

A

MOST REMARKABLE and effective new program for creating and maintaining a lasting interest in outdoor life is gaining wide popularity in the schools of several countries. It is known as orienteering. The basis of this partly recreational, partly educational program is that of teaching boys and girls at an early age, in an enjoyable way, how to use the map and compass to find their way in the outof-doors.

The name orienteering is a coined word for any activity in which map and compass are used for practicing way-finding. It is derived from orientation and is now in general use in the United States, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. It may sound strange, but in the term orienteering itself is found one of the reasons why this program has had such success. Instead of talking to youngsters about map and compass instruction, you talk about orienteering. And immediately it sounds like a sport, a game-fun, enjoyable instead of some kind of regimented teaching or instruction.

The term itself is not the only thing new. But it has helped not only by making the program more appealing to youngsters but also by putting the spotlight on a very important field within youth education. Because we have been working with orienteering for quite a few years, new aspects have already been brought forward and considered, new teaching methods have been developed, new equipment invented,

new ways and games to use a map and compass for fun and recreation have been found.

EDUCATES MIND AND BODY

The orienteering program of today is a valuable combination. First, there are the educational, theoretical, and instructional aspects, which develop skill in map reading and love for the out-of-doors. And that is where the schools should come in more actively. Secondly, there is the expanded development of this into a competitive sport with different variations ranging from simple recreative games and contests, preferably combined with conservation and nature lore, to the more intricate crosscountry races where map and compass are used to locate certain control stations in unknown territory and to return to the end station in the shortest possible time. HOW IT STARTED

Orienteering was first introduced in Sweden in 1917-18. It quickly spread through Europe as both an educational and sports program. It is now a compulsory part of the curriculum in Sweden and Norway, and it has developed into one of the most. popular national competitive sports for men, women, and children from 9-10 years of age, not only in Sweden and Norway but also in Denmark, Finland, and Switzerland. Five years ago its educational values were recognized in Canada and orienteering became an adjunct to courses in social studies and geography in schools of Ontario Province.

As for the United States, the program of orienteering is now in general use by the Boy Scouts, the Girl Scouts, Camp Fire Girls, other youth organizations, and also by camp counselors. It is arousing an everincreasing interest and acceptance among the faculty members of secondary schools throughout the United States and several teachers have tried orienteering with their pupils on their own initiative, reportedly with success.

WHAT IS ITS VALUE?

It is self-explanatory that orienteering is of a great value in teaching the use of map and compass, since the whole program is based on these essential tools. The skill gained in using these tools is in turn indispensable for all kinds of rec

reation in the woods and fields. It is a necessary basic knowledge for hiking, mountaineering, camping, hunting, fishing and-to some extent -conservation and nature lore.

Keep it simple-make it fun, is the rule to keep in mind. In the orienteering program the theoretical side is de-emphasized, especially at the introductory level. Map reading, for example, should never be just that. In orienteering, map reading is just a part of the whole process with much practical use in games and fun exercises, organized in such

they will ever get interested in orienteering as a competitive sport. But they have gained confidence in their own ability and skill, and they have developed proficiency and experience in fending for themselves in the woods. By doing so, they have unconsciously assimilated a favorable attitude towards outdoor life of all kinds, which will give them lots of enjoyment and help to create and maintain their physical physical fitness throughout their life-and there you have the greatest value of orienteering. If it is accepted that orienteering should be introduced at as early an age as possible, why should it necessarily be on the school program? Why could it not be left completely to Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, etc. as it is now? The answer is simply that it should not be left to mere chance whether a child learns map reading or not. Every child is not a Scout, but every child should learn how to read a map and how to use a compass!

ORIENTEERING IN SCHOOLS

Teachers who wish to consider the merits of orienteering will find informative material available from

and adapted for this country in cooperation with American educators and leaders in youth organizations.

Several teaching aids are available, such as a textbook, Be Expert with Map and Compass, The Orienteering Handbook; training maps; practicing compasses; large demonstration compasses; and two 16-mm films, The Sport of Orienteering and By Map and Compass. The films can be rented or borrowed free of charge from public film libraries around the country.

Educators in countries where orienteering is now important in youth education agree that this program has no doubt stimulated interest in associated subjects, such as geography, conservation, and outdoor life. -like hiking, fishing, mountaineering, skiing, biking, canoeing. Children enjoy it.

The perpetual utilization of "playway" methods of instruction and the step-by-step introduction of competitive games-for which orienteering is ideally suitable and without which it should not be taught has made it a most popular subject in every school where it has been added to the curriculum.

Professor William G. Vinal, University of Massachusetts, refers to orienteering as one of the five basic. approaches for taking camping back to nature, where it rightfully belongs. He says:

The spirit of orienteering is infectious. It is like dropping a pebble in the water and watching the concentric circles. The more people who drop the pebble of orienteering into the minds of people-the faster it will become a national art. *

1 For further study, see Master's Thesis on orienteering by James W. Manley, submitted in June 1954, and directed by Professor Vinal.

a way that there is a permanent contact in the pupils' minds between the theoretical teaching and the purpose of it. The learning thus becomes a part of the fun.

CHILDREN ENJOY IT

Children, especially, enjoy this activity in its new form, where much of the teaching is done out-of-doors. The experience of countries where orienteering has been worked into the school program shows that it is indirectly of great value in education. It helps in social studies and fosters much better appreciation of geography and nature courses.

When youngsters have been properly introduced to the fundamentals of orienteering-that is, know how to use map and compass intelligently -it does not necessarily mean that

Education

for

Leisure

EW ASPECTS of life in America today can match the magic potential that surrounds each of us in deciding how to use our ever-increasing leisure. As Sam Small, the flying Yorkshireman, would say, "Just the contemplation of it leaves one feeling wivvery!" However, to realize the opportunities that leisure affords, mere contemplation will not suffice. Planning and organization are required. People must be educated to use this leisure wisely.

Recognition of the importance of education for leisure is not new, nor is it confined to the professional educator and the leisure-time worker.

Strangely enough, in all our literature there appears to be no agreement on what education for leisure really entails.

THE LEISURE PROBLEM

Certainly, the concern for the leisure problem is no less today than when major focus was placed upon it during the depression era. If anything, the leisure problem has magnified as the facets of American culture creating it continue to change. The work days get shorter, mechanization increases, life expectancy lengthens, and retirement age drops. The American public is beset on every hand with a constant stream of new ideas and inventions that deeply affect all aspects of living.

We are briefed constantly on the changes to be wrought by an atomic age and warned of the effects that automation will make in people's lives by experts in industrial relations, sociology, physics, architecture, and

and planning. Lindeman's warning that leisure is a national issue echoes more clearly than ever before. In fact, the experience of the last 20 years has only served to emphasize how inter-related the total aspects of our culture really are and to demonstrate how inextricably leisure is bound with other phases. GROWTH OF PROGRAMS

During the past few years, leisuretime programs have grown tremendously. Recreation programs have developed by the hundreds and gradually recreation is achieving professional status. Still, the student of American culture must recognize that the tastes expressed and the quality of choices made by individuals in use of their leisure time fail to reach the level desired for life in our society.

The assumption that people will utilize leisure time to improve their lives proves to be wishful thinking when subjected to careful scrutiny. That many people do so can be de

1 Eduard Lindeman, Leisure Is a National Issue. New York: Association Press, 1939.

monstrated several ways-the do-ityourself movement, the number of visitors to national and state parks, the increase in hunters and fishers, the growth of the classical records business, and the willingness of the American public to finance public recreation. But as long as an increase in leisure time for many means only one more opportunity to use commercial recreation centers, of greater dependence upon spectator events and the home television set, and the chance to take another job, then we must recognize that there is still much to be done. As has been aptly put, our culture is at the stage where people know how to make a living but do not know how to live a life.2

TWO SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT

The basic issue to be resolved is whether our culture will be permitted to drift in terms of the use of leisure time or whether this time should be planned and directed. One school of thought rejects any concept of planning and directing leisure time. The claim is that to do so tends to rob leisure of the very quality and purpose for which it is soughtnamely, the freedom and choice to do what one wishes to do during such time. The other school of thought holds that society should play a direct role in guiding what people do with their leisure, and the establishment of desirable outlets does not imply a loss of freedom.

Fortunately, the adherents of the belief that leisure should be unplanned and unorganized appear to be waging a losing battle at least in the light of opposite trends by labor, industry, government, education, and the church. American democracy can ill afford to leave to chance the development of this leisure potential.

TASK OF EDUCATION

If the latter point of view is adopted, then the task of really educating people for leisure must be faced. This is particularly important if one also accepts the idea that the quality of the experience is as (Concluded on page 28)

2 M. H. Neumeyer and E. S. Neumeyer, Leisure and Recreation. New York: A. S. Barnes & Co., 1936.