HE NORMAL SGHOOL 
 QUARTERLY 
 
 Series 13 
 
 October, 1914 
 
 Number 53 
 
 Posture-Training as a Phase 
 of School Hygiene 
 
 By 
 
 MABEL LOUISE CUMMINGS 
 
 DEC 1936 i*\‘. 
 
 lINIVtRSItY OF SLLiNOIS 
 
 PUBLISHT JANUARY, APRIL, JULY. AND OCTOBER OF EACH 
 YEAR BY THE ILLINOIS STATE NORMAL UNIVERSITY, 
 NORMAL, ILLINOIS 
 
 Enterd August, 1992, at Normal, Illinois, as second-class mail matter under 
 Act oi Congress of July 16, 1S94 
 
 N. B.- Any teacher in Illinois may get the Normal School Quarterly regularly 
 by sending exact name and address, and by giving prompt notis of any change of ad- 
 cIpgss. 
 
 Simplified spellings are used in the offisial publications of the Illinois State 
 Normal University. 
 
> 
 
Normal School Quarterly 
 
 Publisht by the Illinois State Normal University, Normal, Illinois 
 
 Series 13 OCTOBER, 1914 No. 53 
 
 POSTURE-TRAINING AS A PHASE OF 
 SCHOOL HYGIENE 
 
 By 
 
 Mabel Louise Cummings 
 
 For the last half-dozen years games and dancing have 
 occupied a prominent place in the physical education of 
 school children. They have absorbed the attention of teach¬ 
 ers as each new thing must and perhaps well may. They 
 have made for themselvs a permanent place in physical 
 training procedure. Their education and helth value is es- 
 tablisht. Their limitations are coming to be understood. 
 Attention is now returning to the training of posture—a 
 phase of physical training which can never be safely neg¬ 
 lected, and without which work along other lines will be in 
 part wasted. Indications are numerous that posture-train¬ 
 ing in the future will be carried on more intelligently and 
 successfully than it has ever been before. Physicians like 
 Lovett and Goldthwaite have made important contributions 
 to our knowledge of defectiv posture; while teachers of 
 physical training, Miss Bancroft perhaps foremost among 
 them, have contributed methods and inspiration. 
 
 The Scope and Vital Meaning of the Subject 
 
 Exhaustiv treatment of the subject could scarcely be 
 compast in a sizable volume. I shall ask the reader’s atten¬ 
 tion, therefore, to a consideration of the vertebral colum 
 only, its conformation and the consequent relation of hed, 
 chest, and hips to each other, leaving out of consideration 
 the shoulders and feet except as these may be involvd un¬ 
 avoidably, touching briefly lateral deviations of the spine, 
 and speaking as definitly and practically as possible of those 
 accentuations of the normal curvs of the spine which are 
 
2 
 
 so common and which affect so profoundly the general 
 helth and the personal appearance. For convenience the 
 term posture will be used in this limited sense. There is a 
 practical value in diverting attention from the shoulders. 
 Over-emfasis upon the correction of round shoulders has 
 resulted in many distorted spines. 
 
 To the most casual observer the conformation of the 
 spine and consequent position of hed, chest and hips with 
 relation to each other is constantly changing. In the flexi¬ 
 ble bodies of children this relation is especially variable. 
 Whether they sit or stand their posture changes frequently. 
 This is normal and desirable, but observation also reveals 
 the frequent recurrence of certain postures, and it is well to 
 remember that this marvelous flexibility of children’s bodies 
 decreases from the moment of birth. Habitual posture be¬ 
 comes fixt. For this reason we must know the extent to 
 which it affects helth, and, thru helth, efficiency. 
 
 That there is a relation between helth and efficiency on 
 the one hand and posture on the other has long been notist 
 by those who look at men and women in large groups. No 
 one denies the more frequent occurrence of erect bearing 
 with broad chest and shoulders among the more efficient 
 members of a community or its comparativ rarity in groups 
 whose physical capital yields poor returns in the commercial 
 and industrial world. The coincidence of lung trouble with 
 defectiv posture has become traditional, and tho by no 
 means as invariable as it has been thought to be, it is yet 
 frequent. No less frequent than the sunken chest of the con- 
 sumptiv, perhaps, is the hollow back and the relaxt abdomen 
 of the nervous dyspeptic. In girls and women chronic back¬ 
 ache and periodic pain not seldom yield to no other treat¬ 
 ment than a readjustment of the vertebral colum, a correc¬ 
 tion of posture. 
 
 Basic Ideas Underlying Posture-Training 
 
 It may possibly be argued that, except in the last case, 
 these are instances of coincidence which are not proved to 
 be cause and effect. Some freshening of one’s knowledge 
 of human anatomy and physiology, however, will make 
 such cause-and-effect relation clear and at the same time 
 
3 
 
 result in the necessary basis for arguments that are to fol¬ 
 low. 
 
 Recall the spine as a colum of twenty-four vertebrae 
 resting on the wedge-shaped sacrum which is held firmly 
 between the two hip bones, surmounting it the skull, at- 
 tacht to it the twelv pairs of ribs. Recall that the vertebrae 
 are separated by discs of cartilage and are bound together 
 pretty firmly by ligaments, that not much motion is permit¬ 
 ted between any two, but that the slight motion at each joint 
 results in a flexible colum capable of bending in all direc¬ 
 tions, capable also of some twisting or rotation. Recall that 
 the joint between spine and skull is a freely movable one, 
 that the hed may be easily balanst upon the spine or may as¬ 
 sume a position in which its whole weight bears to bring the 
 upper spine forward, that the twelv pairs of ribs are set on 
 the twelv dorsal vertebrae at an angle so that viewd from the 
 side they are seen to slope downward, that the joints between 
 ribs and vertebrae are but slightly movable so that the posi¬ 
 tion of the spine affects directly the position of the ribs. 
 Recall what are spoken of as the normal curves of the spine 
 —convexity forward in the cervical region, backward in the 
 dorsal region, and forward again in the lumbar or waist 
 region, with the sacrum effecting a second backward con¬ 
 vexity below the waist. Finally let us realize that the posi¬ 
 tion of these bones with relation to each other is maintaind 
 by muscular activity directed against the force of gravity. 
 
 We know that man alone of the vertebrates walks with 
 spine erect, that the erect posture does not characterize man’s 
 near relations among the apes nor the newborn of his own 
 species in which it is acquired months after birth, yet we 
 rarely reflect that its maintenance is a feat of considerable 
 difficulty or that upon it his survival depends. 
 
 Nature’s Provision for Correct Normal Posture 
 
 The arrangement of muscle groups by which this flexi¬ 
 ble colum, man’s body, is made to balance itself upright 
 upon a small base, the feet, is less easily pictured than is the 
 relation of the bones of the skeleton. Figure l 1 , adapted from 
 Hough and Sedgwick’s Human Mechanism, diagrams it ad¬ 
 mirably. A moment’s study makes clear the action of 
 
 'Used here by courtesy of’Ginn and Company, Publishers. 
 
4 
 
 groups A and D, E, B and H. Groups F and G must be delt 
 with more slowly. Group F represents the muscles forming 
 the abdominal wall. Test their action by bending backward 
 and noting the hardness of these muscles when they con¬ 
 tract to prevent the trunk from falling backward. Again, 
 without tipping backward, contract these muscles and draw 
 in the abdominal wall. Does this increase or decrease the 
 lumbar curv of the spine? What effect has it upon the ab¬ 
 dominal organs? Group G represents what are known as 
 extensors of the spine. These lie in two groovs on either 
 side of a central row of spinal projections and when they 
 are contracted in the lumbar region can be felt as two hard, 
 rounded colums. Place the hand over the hollow of the 
 back and bend forward from the hips. Notis how these two 
 colums of muscles thicken and harden. Standing erect, hol¬ 
 low the back excessivly and feel how these muscles harden 
 and stand out. Contract the spinal extensors higher up. 
 Does this flatten or increase the dorsal convexity? Does it 
 raise or lower the ribs? Let the hed droop forward. Raise 
 it and pull in the chin. Notis the relation between position 
 of hed and position of chest. 
 
 In ways like this we can demonstrate that contraction 
 of the abdominal muscles decreases the lumbar curv and 
 raises and supports the abdominal organs, while contrac¬ 
 tion of the spinal extensors at the waist increases the lumbar 
 curv and draws the hips backward. Activity of the neck 
 muscles and those of the upper spine determin the position 
 of the hed and chest. 
 
 The Hygienic Import of Posture and Its Renewd Demand 
 for Attention 
 
 Very evidently the conformation of the spine depends 
 upon the degree of contraction in each of these muscle 
 groups. Evidently the relation of hed, chest, and hips to 
 each other depends upon conformation of the spine. Lung 
 capacity and breathing movements depend upon position 
 of the chest. It may also be rememberd that breathing 
 movements not only pump air into the lungs but blood into 
 the hart, and that this aspiration of the thorax is the one 
 
o 
 
 constant means of moving lymph along the lymph tubes 
 and freshening the environment of every cell in the body. 
 
 By pumping blood into the hart it is to be understood 
 that we mean hastening its return from organs lying outside 
 the chest-cavity thru the suction of breathing movements. 
 Activ muscle-masses like the arms and legs are not depend¬ 
 ent upon such force but organs suspended in the mesentery 
 and those lying deep in the pelvis suffer impaird circulation 
 when activ breathing movements are interfered with. So 
 markt is the effect of deep breathing upon circulation in the 
 pelvic organs that its use has formd a prominent part of 
 successful treatment in certain cases of their too prolongd 
 congestion. 
 
 The relation of posture to helth is truly one of cause 
 and effect. Any posture which compresses the viscera re¬ 
 sults in deprest vitality. Exactly such an effect results from 
 the usual sitting posture of sedentary occupations. Its re¬ 
 verse is seen in the physical stamina and longevity of long¬ 
 bodied individuals. It is said that in men of power the trunk 
 is notably long in proportion to length of lim. Anything 
 which gives maximum capacity to both thoracic and ab¬ 
 dominal cavities with consequent space for the growth and 
 free activity of visceral organs is surely of first importance 
 in the care and training of children. 
 
 It is not assumed that the importance of posture is a re¬ 
 cently discoverd fact. For years school furniture has been 
 designd, systems of writing introduced or discarded, and 
 gymnastics relied upon in the attempt to cultivate correct 
 posture in children. It is assumed, however, that posture- 
 training can yield better results than it usually has done; 
 that we need to sum up our whole experience and to act in 
 the light of it. And it is believd that with a clearer idea of 
 what constitutes faulty posture, what causes lie behind its 
 formation and the recognition that posture-training means 
 posture-teaching with the same use of pedagogical principle 
 and device that is habitual in other teaching, our efforts will 
 not be so frequently wasted as they have been in the past. 
 
6 
 
 Correct Posture and Its Tests 
 
 Let us define good standing-posture as that in which 
 the curvs of the spine and the consequent position of hed, 
 chest, and hips make possible the freest activity of visceral 
 organs and the maintenance of upright balance without un¬ 
 due muscular effort. This will mean that the body is drawn 
 up to nearly its fullest hight; that none of the curvs of the 
 spine are accentuated; that the chest is lifted, but without 
 constraint; that hed, chest, and hips are in a vertical line, 
 (see Fig. 6) ; that shoulders and arms hang easily. This is 
 not a gymnastic position; it is not intended to be. While 
 taking gymnastics children may be required to extend the 
 arms vertically downward from the shoulders with palms 
 toward the body, but the greatest care is necessary to avoid 
 the stiff, crampt carriage of the shoulders which comes from 
 calling attention to them. Generally when hed, chest, and 
 hips are properly adjusted, the shoulders will, if permitted, 
 hang easily in the right position. Nothing is worse than to 
 say to a class, “Throw back your shoulders.” 
 
 It is of the utmost importance that some definit and 
 easily applied test for good posture should be understood by 
 teachers and pupils. Jessie H. Bancroft in her recent book, 
 “The Posture of School Children,” describes such a test and 
 the methods and results of its application in the schools of 
 New York City. It seems difficult to over-estimate the value 
 of her simple device. The book is profusely illustrated, 
 makes a thoro study of the whole subject of posture, and will 
 be an inspiration to every teacher who reads it. Her test 
 consists in estimating the position of hed, chest, and hips by 
 dropping a vertical line from the front margin of the ear. 
 This line should coincide with or parallel the long axes of 
 hed and trunk and should fall in front of the ankle. A con¬ 
 venient way of making the test is to place oneself in position 
 to get an accurate side view of the pupil and hold at arm’s 
 length a window stick to represent the line. One then notes 
 deviations from the vertical in the three main segments of 
 the body: hed, trunk, and legs. A cord and weight could be 
 used, but swinging of the pendulum prevents the rapid work 
 necessary with a large number of children. This test is 
 easily comprehended by children, is sufficiently accurate for 
 
7 
 
 schoolroom use, and can be made rapidly. The actual rod 
 or line should be used until the children thoroly understand 
 the test. By that time the teacher’s eye will be so traind that 
 she can stand at a distance and sight the pupil with vertical 
 pencil, as is done in drawing from the model, or even the 
 pencil may be dispenst with. 
 
 The practical value of the test is seen in the ease with 
 which it reveals the typical deviations from upright adjust¬ 
 ment. Such mal-adjustments are usually groupt as follows : 
 
 Types op Depectiv Posture 
 
 1. Rare cases which show, not a simple accentuation of 
 normal curvs, but a fixt angular deformity of the spine. 
 These are probably tubercular and are cases for the physi¬ 
 cian, not the teacher. They should not be meddled with. 
 
 2. The commonest of all defectiv postures. (See Fig¬ 
 ured). The trunk from the waist up sags backward; the 
 chest sinks; the hed droops; the hips are too far forward. 
 The dorsal curv is accentuated, the lumbar curv somewhat 
 increast. The value of the Bancroft test is evident here, for 
 while clothing conceals the curv of the spine the long axes 
 of hed, trunk, and legs are well made out and are seen to 
 form not a vertical line but a zigzag. This is the position of 
 relaxation, one in which the muscles have transferd a part 
 of their work to the ligaments. It is sometimes spoken of 
 as the fatigue posture. 
 
 By reference to Fig. 1 and by recalling the simple ex¬ 
 periments suggested for finding the effect of contracting 
 different muscle groups, it may be seen that we need here 
 contraction of abdominal muscles to reduce the lumbar curv 
 and bring the upper trunk forward, while the dorsal curv 
 will be reduced and the hed and chest lifted by activity of 
 the spinal extensors in the neck region. 
 
 3. A less common type (see Figure 3), except in classes 
 where mistaken methods of teaching have been in use. 
 Both hips and shoulders are thrown backward. The back 
 is hollowd excessivly. This posture is most often induced 
 by the command, “Throw back your shoulders;” some¬ 
 times by an exaggerated effort to lift the chest. Here the 
 need for abdominal contraction is evident. Often a definit 
 
8 
 
 effort to relax the spinal muscles is in order. This is a dif¬ 
 ficult position to correct. 
 
 4. A defect less common among children than among 
 adults. Insted of accentuation of curvs, their elimination 
 is almost accomplisht; rather, all are merged into one. The 
 chest is deprest, both hed and hips are forward, the hollow 
 of the back is obliterated. In children this posture is often- 
 est seen when they slide forward in their seats and sit on the 
 lower part of their backs. Correction will deal with the 
 spinal extensors thruout their whole length. From hed to 
 sacrum they have been stretcht and relaxt. They must be 
 toned up and shortend. 
 
 Very commonly, in addition to the mal-adjustments re- 
 veald by the Bancroft test, there exist lateral deviations. 
 These frequently but not always show in uneven shoulders 
 and hips. Very slight lateral deviation is so common that 
 by some it is considerd normal. Serious deviation calls for 
 the attention of a physician. Parents should be urged to get 
 the advice of a specialist. Without that advice the teacher 
 should forbid twisting and lateral bending of the trunk in 
 gymnastics and should encourage in all ways stretching the 
 spine to an erect position. 
 
 Causes of Defectiv Posture 
 
 Causativ conditions fall into two groups: (1) those that 
 affect general helth, fatigue being their most common symp¬ 
 tom, and (2) those that form habits. Proportions of the 
 bony skeleton, length of ligament, organic disease, and nu¬ 
 merous other factors do enter into the formation of defectiv 
 posture, but if the teacher keeps constantly in mind fatigue 
 and habit he will have a good working basis for posture¬ 
 training. To avoid fatigue and to form correct posture hab¬ 
 its : these constitute the problem to solv which a teacher 
 must bring to bear all he knows of hygiene and pedagogy. 
 In his teaching of hygiene and in the hygiene of his teach¬ 
 ing lie valuable aids. 
 
 (1) Fatigue as a cause of defectiv posture. — The 
 causes of fatigue may be found in the home—in dietary 
 errors and habits of sleep, in work unsuited to growing 
 children, like the carrying of babies and the lifting of other 
 
9 
 
 hevy loads. Physical inheritance determins vitality in some 
 cases. Diseased tonsils, decayed teeth, defectiv vision and 
 hearing must not be overlookt. Adenoids in themselvs so 
 impede respiration that they are a potent cause of defectiv 
 posture. Rapid growth is another condition to be reckond 
 with. Or, causes of fatigue may lie within the school—in 
 the furniture, in the lighting, in lack of fresh air. Askt to 
 name the one thing which operates most powerfully to pro¬ 
 duce fatigue-posture the writer would name schoolroom air ; 
 and she would venture to predict that the time will come 
 when we shall abandon our elaborate and expensiv ap¬ 
 paratus for preparing and distributing air to our school¬ 
 rooms and return to simpler and more helthful methods of 
 ventilation and heating. 
 
 We must remember what muscular activity the erect 
 posture requires. We cannot discharge our responsibility for 
 preventing muscular fatigue by putting in adjustable seats, 
 or even by spending ten minutes a day in gymnastic ex¬ 
 ercise. There is at present little disposition on the part of 
 educators to treat helth responsibility thus lightly. This as¬ 
 pect of posture-training presents only an added reason for 
 doing what is alredy being done in many schools, what is 
 lookt forward to by all—the correction of nose, throat, and 
 eye defects; the improvement of helth conditions in the 
 home by visiting nurses or parent-teacher organizations, and 
 the provision of a school environment in all ways favorable 
 to the normal growth of children. 
 
 (2) Habits as causes of defectiv posture .—Rarely or 
 never should effort be directed to helth maintenance only. 
 A rough statement, but sufficiently accurate for our pur¬ 
 poses, is that muscles relax because they are tired, and just 
 what ones relax, to what extent they relax, thus, just what 
 posture results is determind by conditions largely within 
 our control. The erect posture is maintaind by well-dis¬ 
 tributed muscular work; the burden falls on no one group; 
 but when bending forward over book, woodwork, or piece 
 of sewing, the full weight of hed and chest falls upon the 
 group of spinal muscles; these partially relax and the spine 
 becomes rounded. The muscles may develop consider¬ 
 able strength hut they have been stretcht; the check- 
 
10 
 
 rein is not short enough to hold hed and chest erect. The 
 dorsal curv is accentuated and the lumbar muscles reliev 
 themselvs by throwing the trunk backward to balance the 
 weight of the drooping hed. We have the posture described 
 under Type 2 in our list above. Abdominal muscles become 
 weak because in neither sitting nor standing does the bent 
 posture employ them. Posture-sense becomes perverted and 
 gives no intimation of the existing mal-adjustment. Ulti¬ 
 mately some ligaments become stretcht, others shortend, 
 and there results an uncomfortable sense of the grotesque 
 when the spine is properly curvd and the hed, chest, and 
 hips properly adjusted. 
 
 This is a typical example of permanent defect resulting 
 from habit. Frequently as here the habit is responsible both 
 for the muscular fatigue and for the direction and extent to 
 which relaxation takes place. Thus the bent sitting posture 
 described tends to perpetuate itself and to induce defectiv 
 standing posture as well. 
 
 Sometimes the bent postures are inevitable (for the use 
 of books and pencils cannot be abandoned) but often they 
 are not. If vision is defectiv or light insufficient they are 
 accentuated inevitably. If desks are too low or seats too 
 high to permit the feet to rest flat on the floor, anything ap¬ 
 proaching the erect posture is extremely difficult. Some¬ 
 times badly adjusted suspenders or hose supporters make 
 difficult the erect posture; sometimes hevy, ill-fitting clothes. 
 Again, a slouch may be the result of a mental attitude, in¬ 
 difference to school work, or devotion to a fashion. Un- 
 doutedly no two cases ar due to identical causes. 
 
 Suggestions for Posture-Training 
 
 These bad posture-habits must be broken up and good 
 ones formd. Direct instruction naturally belongs to the 
 period assignd to physical training, but attention to posture 
 must not be confined to that period. 
 
 While the teacher need not place too great faith in his 
 own analysis, the attempt to account for individual cases 
 will make his work more intelligent and forceful. And he 
 need not be greatly disturbed by feeling thus inadequate to 
 accurate individual analysis, for three aims must shape his 
 
11 
 
 efforts with all children. These are—(1) to maintain the 
 tone and elasticity of all trunk muscles, (2) to preserv the 
 sense of correct posture in those who have not lost it and to 
 restore it in those who have, (3) to preserv the habit of cor¬ 
 rect adjustment of the hed, chest, and hips where it has not 
 been lost, to form it where it does not exist. 
 
 In recalling means to these ends the attempt is here 
 made to be merely suggestiv for the most part, emphatic 
 only where special need is suspected. 
 
 (1) Cultivation of muscular tone. —This of course in¬ 
 cludes the whole of hygienic practis. It suggests particularly 
 an abundance of outdoor air while children are studying and 
 frequent relief from the strain of sustaind position by brief 
 exercises in standing position. It calls for a vigorous use of 
 the trunk-muscles in sports and gymnastics; the choice of 
 movements which involv bending of the trunk, twisting it, 
 stretching it; movements, too, that induce deep breathing, 
 that are vigorous and stimulating, with care to avoid over¬ 
 fatigue. The suggestion of definit games and exercises is 
 unnecessary. Furniture that supports the spinal muscles is 
 essential and insistence that it be utilized in this way by 
 reasonably erect sitting posture is a valuable means of 
 avoiding fatigue. Children should sit well back in their 
 seats and make use of the support thus furnisht by leaning 
 back, rather than forward upon their elbows, whenever such 
 a position is consistent with their occupation. Remember 
 that a crampt or slouching posture means actual muscular 
 strain. 
 
 (2) Cultivation of the posture-sense .—The sense of cor¬ 
 rect posture might be termd “the feel of it.” We recognize 
 the position of any part of the body by sensory stimuli com¬ 
 ing from the muscles and joints involvd. A perfectly nor¬ 
 mal child knows by these stimuli when the parts of his body 
 are so adjusted that what we have termd correct posture re¬ 
 sults. The child who has acquired one of the bad habits of 
 standing described above, if directed to take an erect pos¬ 
 ture, may be unable to do so, for he has forgotten the mus¬ 
 cular sensations which accompany it. He feels uncomfor¬ 
 table and awkward and makes either too great an effort, not 
 enough effort, or an altogether wrong one. The normal 
 
12 
 
 child feels comfortable and right in the posture which is 
 best for him. We want all children to feel more comforta¬ 
 ble in a correct posture than in any other. Such an end is 
 impossible without repetition, for the unaccustomed is never 
 comfortable. Only when muscles and ligaments act in ha¬ 
 bitual fashion to maintain the desired poise does such be¬ 
 come thoroly comfortable. 
 
 This cultivation of the posture-sense should mean giv¬ 
 ing first a distinct visual image of the correct adjustment of 
 chest and hed, spine, and hips, for effort has been wasted 
 repeatedly by asking children to do what they did not under¬ 
 stand. Have we always known ourselves just what we 
 wanted when we askt them to “straighten up”? Some 
 training of the eye to recognize the fundamentals of bodily 
 poise comes logically at the beginning of posture-training. 
 It may be attempted by selecting the best and criticizing the 
 worst posture-habits of the children, but there is no pleas¬ 
 anter or more certain way of training the eye than by study¬ 
 ing those figures of courage and strength which have been 
 painted or done in marble or bronze by men who knew and 
 loved physical perfection. Many prints and casts commonly 
 found in public school bildings could not be better chosen 
 for the purpose: St. Gaudens’ Lincoln—the standing figure; 
 Guido Reni’s Apollo and the Muses, and his Aurora; the Vic¬ 
 tory of Samothrace. So splendid is the poise of the Victory 
 that no other figure with parts intact could speak with half 
 its force. The Lincoln is especially valuable in showing 
 how perfectly erect the human form may be in half relaxt 
 position. Apollo and the Muses shows the figures strong, 
 sturdy, buoyant. Greek sculpture is full of inspiration. If 
 one has not learnd to love it before, joy will come when it is 
 studied with this end in view. Both teacher and pupils must 
 come to recognize instantly the beautiful and natural erect¬ 
 ness of strength and courage. Van Dycke’s children and 
 Gainsborough’s men and women will appeal to girls, pic¬ 
 tures of athletes and heroes to boys. When erect posture is 
 seen to be associated with joy and strength and courage it 
 becomes interesting. The children can search for pictures 
 showing the erect figure, and bring these in for the judgment 
 of the class. Attention should be cald especially to the posi- 
 
13 
 
 tion of hed and chest where it is fine, for attention to this in 
 practis later will often correct the whole body poise. 
 The vertical line test may now be explaind. When 
 the body is strong, erect, and buoyant, as in the pic¬ 
 tures just mentioned, the hed is in vertical line with 
 the trunk and this sags neither forward nor back¬ 
 ward. The collapst zigzag line that results from weak¬ 
 ness may be shown. To bring the visual concept 
 into terms of the child’s own figure, there is an ex¬ 
 cellent wall chart publisht by the American Posture League. 
 It shows a child in modern costume standing in the fatigue 
 position, and again in the hollow backt position. The use 
 of this chart in every schoolroom would clarify and make 
 definit the visual image essential to intelligent effort; and, 
 furthermore, it would serv the valuable purpose of a stand¬ 
 ard. Why should teachers expect to cultivate good habits 
 of standing any more than good habits of writing without a 
 standard model? There is the same danger that in passing 
 from grade to grade children will form no habit or even 
 have good habits destroyd because of variation in demand 
 from different teachers. 
 
 Now, with the visual image of erect posture vivid in 
 each, with admiration for it kindled by some association or 
 favorit picture, its translation into terms of the muscular 
 sense may be attempted. Let the children rise and each 
 show his idea of a correct standing position. Many will 
 be able to achiev the desired adjustment at once; some will 
 not, and the teacher will have reacht the most difficult part 
 of posture training, for in one way or other every child must 
 be brought to reproduce the posture shown on the chart, to 
 get the muscular sense of easily erect posture. Those who 
 are successful at once should have their success proved by 
 the vertical-line tect and be placed in an aile by themselvs 
 to form the nucleus of an honor squad, to which others are 
 added as they demonstrate their right to it. The others must 
 be helpt to the muscular sense of a good posture in future 
 gymnastic periods with all the ingenuity at the teacher’s 
 command. A good model for the class and individual rather 
 than class corrections are essentials to success. Only a few 
 class directions ever can be given safely in working for ad- 
 
Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3 
 
 Fatigue posture The over-corrected position 
 
Fig. 4 , Fig. 5 Fig. 6 
 
 Stretching out accentuated curves Arm-stretching upward Correct standing position 
 
16 
 
 justment of the spine. All types of defectiv posture are 
 present in a class. A suggestion which is effectiv in the 
 correction of one will only accentuate another, and the 
 children have not the discrimination to recognize where 
 each suggestion is intended to apply. Very often manual 
 correction is the quickest and most effectiv means of getting 
 the desired result. In giving this and in the individual di¬ 
 rections which must be given where manual correction is 
 impossible it is hoped that the mechanism of the standing- 
 posture alredy explaind and illustrated by diagram will 
 prove useful. 
 
 For bringing a posture of Type 2 (Fig. 2) into vertical 
 adjustment the suggestion may be given to “contract ab¬ 
 dominal muscles” or to “pull in the belt in front.” Or one 
 hand may be placed over the belt in front, one between the 
 shoulders, and pressure exerted by the two hands in opposit 
 directions. This method is well illustrated by Miss Ban¬ 
 croft’s book. If at the same time the child pushes upward 
 with the hed, the spine often is brought to its normal ad¬ 
 justment. Sometimes a strong effort to lift the chest will 
 do away with the objectionable backward sag of the upper 
 trunk. If this results in an over-corrected position, atten¬ 
 tion had better be diverted to the hed and a vigorous reach¬ 
 ing up with the crown of the hed directed. One of the few 
 valuable class suggestions is to stand to the fullest possible 
 hight without stiffness. 
 
 Perhaps the most difficult posture to correct is that of 
 Type 3. Manual correction here is almost impossible. The 
 trouble lies in over-contraction of lumbar muscles. What 
 must be secured is partial relaxation of these with a firmer 
 tone in the abdominal group. Localized relaxation is always 
 difficult to get. It is possibly best obtaind by directing at¬ 
 tention elsewhere. The arms may be stretcht sideways as 
 far as possible, or the position shown in Figure 4 may be 
 used. In it the hands are claspt directly on top of the hed, 
 not on the crown, and are then prest down on the hed while 
 the hed is pusht upward strongly against the hands. So 
 complete is every effort to push high up against the hands 
 that the weight is lifted from the heels and with this cen¬ 
 tering of every effort upon an upward reach against an ob- 
 
17 
 
 stacle, the lumbar spine usually relaxes enough to reliev the 
 extreme curv. If the hight thus gaind can be kept while 
 arms and shoulders are allowd to drop easily, correction is 
 accomplisht. It remains only to remember “the feel” of the 
 corrected position, which can then be more quickly assumed 
 a second time. 
 
 Sometimes if the body is flexible and the cloth r g per¬ 
 mits perfect freedom the lumbar relaxation can be accomp¬ 
 lisht by stretching the arms upward. (See Fig. 5.) In this 
 case everything should give way from the heels up to allow 
 the fingers to reach the highest possible point. Reaching up 
 with the hed, arms hanging at the sides, sometimes helps, 
 but these cases of hollow back must never be told to lift the 
 chest or push it forward, for such effort always increases 
 their defect. Occasionally attention directed to contraction 
 of abdominal muscles counteracts that of the lumbar group. 
 These suggestions are offerd in what is believd to be the or¬ 
 der of their usefulness. Each teacher must work out his 
 own methods, however, and must search for the right word 
 in giving correction and encouragement. 
 
 Now and then a Type-4 posture is discoverd. The key 
 to its correction is a lifting of the chest, which may be ex- 
 cedingly difficult to achieve, but without which correction 
 is entirely impossible. Effort can sometimes be directed by 
 placing a hand upon the child’s chest and asking him to 
 push upward and forward against it. Or he may place his 
 own fingertips upon the center of the sternum, allow the 
 chest to sink as much as he likes, then push hard upward 
 and forward against them. Or he may be told to hollow 
 the back and to pull back the hips, but such a suggestion 
 should never reach the class as a whole. Manual correc¬ 
 tion may be given. 
 
 In all corrected posture pupils must be convinst that 
 their personal appearance is not conspicuous, that it does 
 not look as it feels, and that the awkward feeling will dis¬ 
 appear. 
 
 If each day a few minutes is spent in this posture work, 
 one by one pupils join the ranks of those who have trans¬ 
 lated their visual image into one of muscular sense, who can 
 
18 
 
 assume at will a standing posture in which visceral activity 
 is unimpeded and muscular tone conservd. 
 
 Not very much effectiv gymnastic work can be given 
 until this point is reacht, but an abundance of physical ex¬ 
 ercise of the most interesting sort can and should by all 
 means be given daily, either preceding or following the 
 brief posture drill. This work on posture should be earnest 
 and concentrated, but it should not be allowd to crowd out 
 that vigorous free movement which is essential to break the 
 school periods of sustaind sitting. 
 
 (3) Formation of posture-habits .—When hed, chest, 
 and hips can be voluntarily adjusted in conformity with the 
 standard, there logically follows the establishment of this ad¬ 
 justment as a habit—a distinct problem calling for its own 
 methods. 
 
 Three stages in the formation of posture-habits. —We 
 cannot speak of a correct posture-habit as being establisht 
 until (1) a child maintains the vertical line positions thru 
 all activities in which it easily is possible, such as walking, 
 marching, sitting, standing for recitation, etc.; (2) until he 
 maintains the desired adjustment under conditions of in- 
 creast difficulty; (3) until he returns to this posture invari¬ 
 ably after activities which make it impossible; until, in 
 short, the whole bodily mechanism—bones, ligaments, nervs, 
 and muscles—become thoroly adapted to its maintenance. 
 If defectiv posture be a matter of long standing, structural 
 modifications have taken place and its correction involvs the 
 stretching of some ligaments and muscles, the shortening of 
 others, the development of more strength in some muscle 
 groups, the modification of nervous response. Such 
 changes require time. When it is rememberd, also, that 
 man has not yet become perfectly adapted to the upright 
 posture, that he maintains it against constant odds, it 
 may be perceivd redily that a theory of posture-training may 
 underlie logically all directed exercise during the growing 
 period. Other results from muscular activity should be in 
 view but posture-training should not be lost sight of. 
 
 These stages which mark the acquisition of the desired 
 habit are what might be expected and to a certain extent 
 they may determin the emfasis of effort. We should expect 
 
19 
 
 the maintenance of correct adjustment first in those activi¬ 
 ties in which mechanical difficulties are small—obviously in 
 sitting and standing rather than in gymnastics or dancing; 
 also first in those activities which least divert attention from 
 posture—in marching, then, before success in dumbells or 
 wand exercises. Since the simplest problem is one of cor¬ 
 rect posture while sitting and standing, we should emfasize 
 this from the first. Rediness for the beginning of school, 
 for the beginning of a recitation, for singing, for dismissal 
 may constitute posture drill, may form opportunities for en¬ 
 couragement, correction, and that imprint from repetition 
 which results in habit. Since the second step in difficulty 
 is correct adjustment during simple and more or less auto¬ 
 matic movement, we should expect success next in the pass¬ 
 ing out at recess or dismissal, in moving from classroom to 
 classroom, and in marching exercises where attention is 
 partly engaged by the details of tactics. Much might be 
 said on the value of intelligently conducted marching; but 
 only a brief discussion of it can be given here. 
 
 The use of marching in posture-training .—-Marching is 
 everywhere practist in public schools. It is a necessity in 
 moving classes without confusion. As a part of physical 
 training it is felt to possess hygienic, disciplinary, and some¬ 
 times recreativ effects. Children enjoy it on the whole, prob¬ 
 ably often find it restful, and in marching the subordination 
 of the individual to his group of course is achievd. These 
 reasons probably figure in the minds of teachers, but not 
 many realize that marching is the one means of cultivating 
 habitual gait or that it is one of the very best means of form¬ 
 ing the habit of erect posture. Much marching is flagrantly 
 slouchy and when we look carefully beneath the general ef¬ 
 fect of trimness in what is cald good marching at the boys 
 and girls in line we rarely see evidence of attention to indi¬ 
 vidual bearing. The average observer, the average teacher, 
 is not sensitiv on this point. In his estimation straight lines, 
 even spaces, step and rhythm come before erect posture, the 
 adjustment of the individual to his group before adjustment 
 of the body segments to each other, if, indeed, this ever re- 
 ceivs attention. 
 
20 
 
 Standards of marching have been false in the extreme. 
 Hours have been spent in teaching young children to keep 
 step and success has come with the sacrifice of all lightness 
 and spring in the gait. At lavish expenditure of time elab¬ 
 orate evolutions have been practist and results admired 
 when not one-fourth of the children in the intricate lines 
 knew how to carry themselvs. A more clear-eyed consid¬ 
 eration of the individual would bring markt changes in 
 methods of teaching marching with results of permanent 
 value, an habitual carriage which is economical, stimulat¬ 
 ing, self-respecting, and beautiful. 
 
 Before even plain marching can be done excellently 
 well, many details must receiv attention—step, rhythm, in¬ 
 dividual bearing, spacing, alignment, the start, the halt. 
 Neither children nor adults can keep all of these in mind 
 without practis. Each must be emfasized for a time, until 
 automatic or partly so, then new details added as pupils are 
 able to keep them in mind. Drill on rhythm must come first 
 because uniform rhythm is the essence of marching, but if 
 this is set for the naturally brisk pace of children it will not 
 require prolonged and exclusiv attention. It should be lively 
 because nothing conduces to heviness and general relaxa¬ 
 tion of posture in children more than a slow rhythm, and it 
 must be remembered that what would be reasonably brisk 
 for the long legs of adults may be painfully slow for the 
 short legs of children. Naturally rhythm is proportional to 
 length of lim. Music for marching should be playd lightly. 
 Thundering music meaps a thundering step. When rhythm 
 is establisht, first attention should be given to individual 
 bearing. Marching should frequently be preceded by brief 
 posture drill and details of step, alignment, spacing, etc., 
 should be introduced only as they can be without loss of the 
 erect posture thus acquired. Individual bearing should be 
 referd to frequently. Marching tactics should be kept sim¬ 
 ple until an erect bearing is nearly automatic. Thus taught 
 marching becomes a most effectiv means of posture-train¬ 
 ing. 
 
 Other means are extremely useful and at times neces¬ 
 sary. Marching by no means supplies conditions of great 
 difficulty either mechanical or nervous for the maintenance 
 
21 
 
 of what has been described as a standard adjustment of the 
 body segments. Abdominal and spinal muscles and those 
 of the neck rather easily maintain a vertical position of the 
 hed and trunk in walking, and simple tactics do not absorb 
 the attention. 
 
 Gymnastics in posture-training .—Desired posture is not 
 fixt until it is retaind during movements which absorb the 
 attention, even during movements which offer mechanical 
 difficulty. Such conditions are supplied by gymnastics. 
 Again, if long standing defectiv posture is to be corrected 
 some ligaments and muscles must be stretcht, some shortend 
 and strengthend. This work can be done only by gym¬ 
 nastics. 
 
 The value of gymnastic exercise in posture-training has 
 been recognized for more than a hundred years. Its use is 
 perfectly logical. It rests upon well-known anatomic and 
 psychological principles and its efficiency has been demon¬ 
 strated so many times that there has grown up a rather 
 blind faith in it, a feeling that in some magical way an awk¬ 
 ward gait, bad sitting and standing postures, and round 
 shoulders especially must disappear with the practis of gym¬ 
 nastics. This effect is expected, among others, when gym¬ 
 nastic exercise is introduced into the school curriculum. 
 Observation proves, however, that no such magic and in¬ 
 evitable effect results. Muscular coordination improves in¬ 
 variably, muscular development usually, habitual posture 
 sometimes. This almost reverses the desirable order and 
 calls for more intelligent methods of teaching. 
 
 In games and dancing we have unlimited means for de¬ 
 veloping muscular strength and coordination. In so far as 
 these exercises increase lung capacity and general vitality 
 they influence habitual posture favorably, but they are ill- 
 adapted for the systematic posture-training so evidently 
 needed. Gymnastics are admirably suited, and there is a 
 growing belief that they must be made to serv this end or 
 forfit their place in physical training procedure. Their use 
 for recreation and for directly hygienic purposes is a make¬ 
 shift, For posture-training, on the other hand, they are a 
 most powerful instrument whenever individual exercises are 
 
selected with this end in view and their execution super¬ 
 vised with strict attention to form. 
 
 In such selection, emfasis will be placed upon move¬ 
 ments which train and strengthen the spinal muscles, those 
 that develop abdominal and side waist muscles, and those 
 that lift the hed and elevate the ribs. The daily lesson will 
 not omit such movements, tho foot-placings and arm- 
 stretchings may have to be cut short. In the choice of par¬ 
 ticular trunk movements, the teacher will be guided by their 
 immediate effects upon the adjustment of the spine. For 
 example: a trunk-bending forward draws the hips back¬ 
 ward and calls into action the spinal extensors from the 
 sacrum to the hed; and if warning is given not to carry the 
 trunk-raising which follows it too far, it exerts a most fa¬ 
 vorable effect in correcting the fatigue posture. It is there¬ 
 fore an exercise which should be used liberally and early in 
 posture-training. On the other hand, trunk-bending back¬ 
 ward, unless good posture-control is alredy establisht, 
 throws the hips forward and the upper trunk backward, de¬ 
 presses the chest and causes the hed to be thrust forward. 
 This being true, the latter movement will be introduced very 
 much later in gymnastic work and discontinued if after 
 reasonable effort from pupils and teachers it cannot be exe¬ 
 cuted without these faults. In the choice of arm and foot 
 movements, their effect upon the position of the hed, chest, 
 and hips will not be lost sight of. For example, in arm¬ 
 stretching forward there is a tendency for the upper trunk 
 to be displaced backward as it is in the most common type 
 of the defectiv posture, while the tendency in arm-stretch¬ 
 ing sideways is to correct this very defect in spinal adjust¬ 
 ment, Obviously the latter exercise should be emfasized and 
 the former shund until correct adjustment is well under con¬ 
 trol. Then, added control is secured by introducing just this 
 element of difficulty. Stretching the arms vertically upward 
 is often impossible without inducing an exaggeration of the 
 posture seen in Figure 2. An execution of this apparently 
 simple movement while maintaining hed, chest, and hips in 
 vertical relation marks the perfection of posture control. To 
 require the repetition of this movement when a majority of 
 
23 
 
 the class find it impossible not to exaggerate a deplorable 
 defect only increases the defect and makes it more perma¬ 
 nent. Therefore, whether poor form in this exercise is due 
 to restriction from clothing, tight ligaments, or tense mus¬ 
 cles, it must not be introduced until the erect posture can be 
 held during arm exercises which present less mechanical 
 difficulty. 
 
 Difficulties, dangers, and precautionary suggestions .— 
 The teacher ambitious for success in posture-training 
 and determind to secure excellence in gymnastic exe¬ 
 cution should not be appald at the number of de¬ 
 tails that require attention. In so simple an exercise 
 as arm-stretching sideways, there is the direction of 
 the extension, its rhythm, force, and accent, hight of 
 the arms, the position of the wrist and fingers, the po¬ 
 sition of the shoulder blades, of the hed, chest, and hips. 
 The location of town or county boundaries is hardly defined 
 more accurately than is a gymnastic movement. In an ex¬ 
 ercise which consists of a combination or succession of 
 movements multiplication of details is proportional to its 
 complexity. Perfect execution results only from prolongd 
 training. Faults innumerable are presented by the perform¬ 
 ance of a class. Attention to all of them is neither possible 
 nor desirable. This is well enough understood. What needs 
 to be insisted upon is that the most obvious faults are often 
 not those which should receiv first attention. The impulse, 
 of course, is to correct first those which injure the spectacu¬ 
 lar effect—the uneven file, the arm out of line, the too long 
 or too short step, a failure to respond as quickly as the rest 
 of the class. Lookt at from the standpoint of benefit to the 
 individual these are corrections which may well be left until 
 later. A pupil should be permitted, helpt, urged to hold the 
 main segments of his own body in line with each other be¬ 
 fore he is askt to occupy that particular spot on the floor 
 which will bring it into line with half a dozen other bodies, 
 and of course it is important that he execute a movement in 
 correct form even if he is a trifle slow about it. Nevertheless 
 the teacher’s impulse is strong to call attention to the ob¬ 
 vious even at the expense of the valuable. It is responsible 
 for the performance so admired by undiscriminating spec- 
 
tators on field days and at gymnastic exhibitions, and for 
 the failure of gymnastics to improve the habitual posture of 
 school children. 
 
 Equally responsible, perhaps, is the tendency to have 
 gymnastic movements follow each other rhythmically before 
 they have been perfected at command. In giving each move¬ 
 ment at command the attention of teachers and pupils is 
 centerd upon one thing at a time. Faults are more easily 
 avoided, more easily detected when they occur, more 
 promptly corrected, and repetition of any detail of the ex¬ 
 ercise is more easily varied to meet the needs of the class 
 than is possible when music or counting carries the move¬ 
 ments along thru a series of repetitions. In gymnastics at 
 command we should expect to see finer form in execution 
 and as a matter of fact we usually do. Since it has been 
 demonstrated that poor form in gymnastic execution coun¬ 
 teracts other efforts in posture-training, it becomes vital to 
 delay transition to rhythmic gymnastics until posture-con¬ 
 trol is well establisht and to keep rhythmic gymnastics sim¬ 
 ple enough to prevent any relapse into defectiv posture 
 habits. 
 
 The vertebral colum is the central supporting structure 
 of the human body. Its correct adjustment should be made 
 the central aim in gymnastic teaching, for only thus can 
 this form of exercize make its own distinctiv and indis¬ 
 pensable contribution to physical training. 
 
 Permanent establishment of posture-habits ,—When the 
 sense of correct vertebral adjustment has been made a part 
 of innumerable motor concepts, when the trunk muscles 
 have become strong enough to hold such an adjustment un¬ 
 der the mechanical difficulties of many gymnastic positions, 
 there remains but one step to complete a permanent effect 
 upon the child’s body. What has become habitual in march¬ 
 ing and gymnastics must be made habitual in all of the 
 other activities of physical training, and of life. It must 
 contribute to the lightness and grace of dancing and to the 
 beauty of athletic exercise. It must promote physical econ¬ 
 omy and contribute to the dignity of all human intercourse. 
 It must be made completely habitual. There must come 
 that easy and flexible erectness in which the body refuses to 
 
25 
 
 collapse tho it must bend, that involuntarily return to an at¬ 
 titude expressing courage and strength which marks the 
 best physical types. 
 
 It is best to admit that this cannot be made the posses¬ 
 sion of every child, that diseasd and exhausted parents, ig¬ 
 norance, and poverty place handicaps from the beginning. 
 Yet when we realize the plasticity of youth, and its wonder¬ 
 ful vitality, and the marvelous permanent changes that are 
 produced in plants and animals during the growing period 
 by formativ forces, we must believ that persistent and in¬ 
 telligent attention to this factor of human helth will yield 
 more encouraging results than have been dreamd of. 
 
 Strong and attractiv incentivs necessanj. —The most 
 potent force in bringing completely habitual erectness is by 
 all odds individual ambition. Without this a strong teacher 
 may secure the desired results during physical training per¬ 
 iods but no permanent erectness is possible. In stimulating 
 ambition, methods, naturally, must vary with the age of 
 pupils. Teachers accustomd to working with children 
 know best what ones to use. Many of the most effectiv de¬ 
 vices for arousing ambition in this direction are by no 
 means distinctiv of physical training. The skillful teacher 
 appeals to the desire for praise, for honor, for distinction, to 
 the competitiv instinct, to the genuin desire for improvement 
 which is found in every child. It is unnecessary to go into 
 details concerning the use of honor lists, badges, ribbons, or 
 the award of monitorships, leaderships, and captaincies for 
 excellence in posture. Nor is it well to despise these de¬ 
 vices. They are often effectiv and should be used wherever 
 they will serv. 
 
 Most consistent and equally desirable, is the require¬ 
 ment of reasonably correct posture habits for athletic hon¬ 
 ors. Probably this also is most difficult to require, so foren 
 is it to common custom. Yet if sports are fosterd, as they 
 assumedly are, for the symmetric development of the young 
 boy or girl, and if teams are to represent, as they supposedly 
 do, the best product of that fostering, nothing could be more 
 illogical than to allow on pickt teams such specimens of 
 one-sided development as are sometimes seen there. Very 
 few methods would yield surer results in the improvement 
 
26 
 
 of general bearing than such a requirement. It would af¬ 
 fect directly all adolescents and indirectly all of their 
 younger hero worshipers. 
 
 If posture-training is to assume its legitimate place in 
 physical training some recognition of it must be made in 
 demonstrations and field-day programs, and this is not dif¬ 
 ficult to arrange. No inconsiderable effort toward erect pos¬ 
 ture was stimulated some years ago among the children of 
 the training department of the Illinois State Normal Uni¬ 
 versity by the award of ribbon badges as part of the annual 
 field-day program. Presentation was made by the president 
 of the school. To receiv a badge of distinction from so 
 great a personage on so important an occasion assumed the 
 proportions of a great honor in the eyes of the children. 
 This was done before definit posture tests came into use; 
 standards were entirely in the judgment of the teacher; but 
 the plan was put before the children early in the year; rib¬ 
 bons were awarded for improvement as well as for actual 
 achievement; the number given in each grade was not too 
 great and not too small to be stimulating; and results proved 
 the scheme most worth while. 
 
 A “review of troops” before judges of distinction may 
 well form part of the field-day program. The very fact that 
 by the judges, at least, this marching will be viewd with an 
 eye to individual bearing will result in effectiv effort on the 
 part of both teachers and pupils. A brief setting-up drill 
 given in connection with the review with the purpose of 
 each announst on the program will emfasize still further to 
 parents and to the public the value of posture-training. At- 
 tractiv suggestions of military performance are by no means 
 desirable, nor are they necessary; but the recognition by 
 military authorities that posture is intimately associated 
 with physical endurance and practical efficiency should es¬ 
 cape no one, and their methods of cultivating an erect bear¬ 
 ing may well be studied. In competition between grades, 
 first, second, or third place in posture maintenance should 
 give the same number of points as first, second, or third 
 place in track or field events. 
 
 Field days, however, come but once a year. More fre¬ 
 quent recognition of posture-habits is needed both to en- 
 
21 
 
 courage effort on the part of the children and to secure for 
 them the help which comes from interest on the part of 
 parents. The monthly report card suggests itself. If pos¬ 
 ture-training is as valuable as has been argued in this paper, 
 it quite deservs a place on the monthly report cards, and 
 certainly thru them it can secure the respectful attention of 
 parents. Miss Bancroft’s book on posture contains a dis¬ 
 cussion of the system of grading which is used in the New 
 York City public schools, with an account of the very grati¬ 
 fying results which have come with its use. This is well 
 worth the attention of any one interested in posture. So 
 valuable is the help of parents in this as in other phases of 
 school work that every means should be taken to interest 
 them and to make them intelligent regarding this factor in 
 the helth of their children. 
 
 Parents have sole control over many potent causativ 
 conditions: general nutrition, defectiv vision, unsuitable 
 work, clothing, adenoids, are some of these. Obviously 
 without effectiv cooperation from parents, those cases of de¬ 
 fectiv posture which are due to unhygienic home conditions 
 cannot be reacht. Unfavorable, also, is the misdirected nag¬ 
 ging of parents who are interested in the posture habits of 
 their children but who are utterly ignorant of helpful cor- 
 rectiv methods. There is every reason for bringing the sub¬ 
 ject of posture into the programs of parents’ clubs and there 
 treating it with all of the thoroness possible under such con¬ 
 ditions. 
 
 In these and in all other ways possible there must be 
 created the incentiv of popular demand and expectation. 
 Not much thought has been given to this phase of posture¬ 
 training; but it is needless to multiply suggestions. The 
 problem can be workt out better by those who are in daily 
 contact with children than by specialists. Little experi¬ 
 mental proof is at hand but I firmly believ that with the in¬ 
 troduction of effectiv incentivs to constant personal effort, 
 much of the time now spent upon so-cald correctiv exer¬ 
 cises can be turnd over to more recreativ and more directly 
 hygienic forms of exercise. Formal gymnastic lessons bear 
 the same relation to the cultivation of erect posture-habits 
 that lessons in oral and written English bear to the cultiva- 
 
28 
 
 tion of habitually correct language. They are just as neces¬ 
 sary, and they are just as fruitless without constant incen- 
 tiv to practis what is there taught. With a constant and 
 powerful incentiv, surprising individual results have been 
 shown within my experience upon even a dirninisht gym¬ 
 nastic schedule. 
 
 Summary .—I have tried to make clear in this paper the 
 relation between posture and helth, to suggest the mechani¬ 
 cal difficulties of the erect posture, to outline typical defects 
 which result from these difficulties, and to indicate the 
 mechanical principles which underlie their correction. I 
 have suggested the necessity of developing definit visual 
 posture-concepts as the first step in posture-training, and 
 the translation of the visual concept into terms of muscular 
 sense as the second step. After this, the formation of cor¬ 
 rect posture-habits must procede thru practis under condi¬ 
 tions of increasing difficulty, both mechanical and psycho¬ 
 logical. I have tried to show the very great possibilities of 
 posture-training in marching if it is taught with this end in 
 view; to make clear the necessity for carefully pland gym¬ 
 nastic work; but above all the utter futility of these agencies 
 in correcting bad posture-habits when not supplemented by 
 powerful motivs for improvement. Such motivs will be 
 developt wherever teachers become interested in posture¬ 
 training and this will be wherever they or their leaders can 
 look, clear-eyed, thru the screen of accepted procedures and 
 practises at the needs of individual children. 
 
:/V