PHYSICAL EDUCATION

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PHYSICAL EDUCATION

Adjunct Professors: John S. Biddiscombe, Peter Kostacopoulos, Gale A. Lackey, Donald E. Long, David F. Snyder

Adjunct Associate Professors: Philip D. Carney, Elizabeth R. Emery, Francis J. Hauser, Patricia Klecha-Porter, Gerald McDowell, Kate K. Mullen, Craig Raye, Brenda J. Straker

Adjunct Assistant Professors: Drew Black, John Raba, Geoffrey H. Wheeler, Donna M. Wright

Wesleyan does not offer a major program in physical education. A program for credit is offered emphasizing courses in fitness, health, lifetime sport, and outdoor education activities. Most activities are introductory and advanced-level courses.

No more than one credit in physical education may be used toward the graduation requirement. Physical education (.25 credit) courses may be repeated once only, except for PHED125 (First-Year Students’ Introduction to Squash).

Limited enrollment courses. Students taking a class for the first time are given preference over students wishing to take a class a second time, and an advanced-class standing has preference over a lower-class standing. Performance tests may be required to qualify for intermediate and advanced classes.

PHYSICAL EDUCATION AT WESLEYAN—A STATEMENT OF PHILOSOPHY

"I have always thought that sports are an integral part of liberal education...The reason has to do with the difference between being active and remaining passive. Except where the merchants and hawkers have taken over even college athletics, sports provide the occasion for being intensely active at the height of one’s powers. The feeling of concentrated and coordinated exertion against opposing force is one of the primary ways in which we know what it is like to take charge of our own actions."—Louis Mink
Professor Mink, in Thinking About Liberal Education, said that liberal education is an intensive quest for fulfillment of human potential. It challenges the whole person—mind, body, emotions, and spirit—to pursue mastery of skills, broad and focused knowledge, coherent understanding of human experience, and a passionate desire to exploit one’s capacity in the service of human freedom and dignity. As Mink suggests, structured physical activity is a key part of that pursuit. When it is in harmony with the broader educational purposes of an institution, it contributes to them, draws significance from them, and enhances the educational result.

Physical education at Wesleyan has several goals. It promotes good health through programs of physical fitness. It teaches physical skills and encourages their mastery. It encourages disciplined physical testing of personal mettle. It builds teams and fosters their pursuit of solidarity, cohesive power, efficiency, and excellence. It provides opportunity and incentive for recreational sport of a sort that contributes not only to good health, but also to fuller understanding of the importance of physical activity in mature life. In every mode and component of its diverse program, physical education emphasizes the development of physical strength and endurance, skill, and agility. It seeks thus to empower participants to take charge of their own actions with intelligence, vigor, and grace.

The diversity of Wesleyan’s physical education program reflects a commitment to equal opportunity for men and women at varied levels of achievement to develop their athletic potential. The objective is to provide a broad range of programs that will meet the needs of all students for athletic participation, whether they seek to learn a lifetime sport, maintain acquired skills in intramural play, achieve more sophisticated mastery in intercollegiate competition, or attain a higher level of physical fitness through a program of instruction. To that end, the department sponsors 29 varsity sports, 14 club programs, intramurals and a comprehensive instructional program and provides for recreation and personal fitness.

Programmatic balance is a key criterion of physical education. The program should be internally balanced to ensure equal opportunity for the pursuit of its several objectives. Moreover, physical education should be construed within the controlling context of liberal education. The successful program will be well integrated in that context and sensitive to its demands.

Last Update 8/99

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