THE CHEMAWA
AM ERICAN
3
fluence athletics may have upon th e stu d en ts of a school like the C he
mawa Indian School. T h e possibilities in th is field are sim ply trem en
dous, provided, of course, athletics are system atized and run in
accordance w ith proper rules.
Any one who know s som ething about conditions prevailing in an
Indian school cannot fail to adm it th a t the situation is som ew hat d if
ferent from conditions in other in stitu tio n s of learn in g . Chem aw a,
for instance, cannot be classed, from an academ ic point of view, as a
college or even as a high school. A nd yet a great num ber of the s tu
dents atten d in g th is school are of high-school and even collegiate age.
T hey are young men im bued with n atu ral instincts for play, capable of
vigorous physical activity and y earn in g for athletic com petition, and
for social intercourse that goes w ith athletics. To deprive them of
those opportunities would be folly bordering alm ost on crim e. An o u t
let m ust be found and none suggests itself better than the field of
athletics.
It m ust be rem em bered that a large num ber of the stu d en ts of a school
like Chem aw a come from places w here social intercourse is necessarily
restricted, because of paucity of in h ab itan ts. M any of them are sent to
the school by p arents who are unable to support them at home. Few of
them fully appreciate th e value of acquiring learning, and not a few of
them are sent to the school against th eir will. T h is condition m ust be
borne in m ind, for it will fully explain th e desire for play and a good
tim e on the part of the stu d en ts. W ere play and good tim es w ithheld
from them , the probabilities are th a t th e stu d en ts will not care to re
tu rn to the school to avail them selves of th e o p p o rtu n ity of acquiring
know ledge. T o m any stu d en ts, know ledge is a b itter pill w hich, in
order to be taken, m ust be sugar-coated. A thletics offers a good coat of
sugar for such a pill.
Few of the stu d en ts who come to a school like Chem aw a have an op
p o rtu n ity , w hile at home, to partake of th e benefits of social intercourse.
They are either too y o ung for th at w hen they leave home, or th eir home
village is too small for such o p p o rtu n ities. It has been proven that
athletics usually result in extensive social intercourse w hich is highly
beneficial to each p articip an t. N one of us are self-sufficient. W e learn
by w atching and com ing into contact w ith others. A boy who makes an
athletic team and who goes w ith th at team to an other town to take part
in a gam e, conies into contact w ith boys of a different environm ent and
cultural developm ent and receives from them certain elem ents which he
would have m issed had he kept close to the walls of his school. W hen
(»lie takes into consideration the fact th at the athletic field is a laboratory
for m anliness, honesty, perseverance, co-operation, self-restraint and fair
play, one cannot fail to see the trem endous benefits th at a school like
the Chem aw a In d ian School could derive from a system of well o rg an
ized and clean inter-collegiate athletics.