Analysis and Reflections on Coubertin’s Physical Education Concept

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Analysis and Reflections on Coubertin’s Physical Education Concept
WANG Yan
School of Physical Education, Soochow University, Suzhou, China, 215021
[email protected]
Abstract: In the past decades, Chinese teenagers’ physical conditions have steadily deteriorated. This
has promoted concerned Chinese government and relevant departments to put forward some policies
such as <Proposal on more efforts devoted to teenager sports and promoting their physical fitness>
(Chinese state council [2007] No7) to rectify the situation but the results are not satisfying. Different
social sectors, especially sports academicians, are worried about the situation. Discussions focus on
many defections in China’s education system and Physical Education. The root cause of all these is the
inappropriateness of concept on Physical Education. Employing methods of documentation and logical
analysis, here in this article Coubertin’s idea of reviving Olympics and his concept on PE are analyzed
in order to give reference and inspiration to current China’s teenager Physical Education. Results:
Coubertin’s concept on PE involves four aspect----“improving physical strength”, “developing respect
for rules”, “molding characteristics” and “maintaining peace”. In Coubertin’s mind, the value of PE lies
in: it can not only improve physical strength but built up confidence; not only cultivate teamwork
awareness but regulate behaviors; not only activate body but mold character; not only maintain peace
but promote friendship.
Keywords: Physical Education concept, improving physical fitness, rules, character, peace
1 Introduction
Since1979, Chinese government has conducted several researches on teenagers’ physical conditions.
The results are not encouraging: teenagers go into puberty earlier than before but their height growth
rate is lower than that of Japanese teenagers at the same time; the percentage of obese and overweight
teenagers goes up; myopia rate remains high; endurance and flexibility decreases, etc. Chinese
government and relevant departments attach great importance to the results. Policies such as <Proposal
on more efforts devoted to teenager sports and promoting their physical fitness> (Chinese state council
[2007] No7) have been promulgated but effects are limited. Scholars have analyzed different causes
leading to deteriorating physical conditions of Chinese teenagers. The ones pertaining to PE are: first,
the faults with PE under our current education system. Second, inadequate work by PE workers in
promoting PE. Third, the lack of Chinese people’s sports awareness and sports spirit. Tracking the root
cause leads to concept on PE. Hoping “father of modern Olympics” Coubertin’s concept on PE can help
solve above-mentioned problems; here his concept on PE is analyzed to give reference and inspiration to
Chinese teenagers’ PE.
2 Texts
2.1 Promoting Physical Fitness
Physical fitness is most important in Coubertin’s PE concept. He thinks it’s not only the basic idea of PE
but also basis of all-round education. The formation of this idea is closely related to his personal
experience. Born in a French aristocratic family, he received systematic humanistic education in St.
Ignas Christian School and was deeply interested in ancient Greek culture. After graduation from high
school in 1880, Coubertin went to Science& politics Institute and did excellent in politics, history,
sociology and pedagogy. Good education and extensive reading bode well for Coubertin’s future
development. When he traveled to England in 1883 for further study, he witnessed English mode of PE
and praised its PE classes, after-school sports activities and frequent field trips. An inspired Coubertin
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came up with the idea of promoting national physical fitness and rejuvenate France through reforming
French education system.
After returning from England, Coubertin published <Reform of education system>, <Guiding principles
for sports>, <The ideal of physical psychology>, raised many proposals on reforming education and
promoting PE, attracting the attention of the French government. On the strength of his aristocratic
background and superior diplomatic skills, Coubertin founded French Preliminary and Middle School
PE association. Soon Coubertin was appointed secretary general of organizing committee of French PE
Training Association. With the post, Coubertin was able to push forward his PE reform. For example, he
proposed “the only way out is to let them play” in the light that French students were overburdened with
too much schooling. [1] Drawing inspiration from British PE, he organized varied sports activities, trying
to alleviate French teenagers’ mental stress. What does credit to him is that he did his best to carry out
the reform, mobilizing schools and society to arouse teenagers’ interests in physical exercise in order to
be more physically fit.
In 1899, Coubertin participated in the physical training conference in Boston, US. During the
conference, Coubertin with acute sense perceived the internationalization trend of modern sports. He
began his visit to Europe to further examine different PE. In 1894 he first came to the cradle of modern
Olympics: Olympia in Greece. [2] He was awed at the site of ancient Olympics. A train of thoughts led
him to think of reviving Olympic Games. This subtle association of thoughts is continuance and
extension of his idea of promoting physical fitness. Coubertin writes in his <Memoir>: “For one
hundred to go in for PE, fifty have to go in for sport. For fifty to go in for sport, twenty will have to
specialise. For twenty to specialise, five will have to show themselves capable of astounding feats.”[3]
We can deduce that Coubertin has been searching for a way, be it political, sociological, pedagogical or
philosophical, to better realize his idea of PE. Olympia inspired him. He hopes to encourage teenagers to
practice sports under the inspiration of exemplary competitive sports and become physically more
capable. His ingenuous thinking and foresight was testified during the 1896 Athens Olympics.
“Throughout the provinces of Greece and on all Greek islands, small boys, as they ran out of school,
amused themselves “playing at the Olympic Games.”[4]
2.2 Developing Respect for Rules
Coubertin thought that sports had regulated and promoted the development of European civilization.
“Provided sport remains accessory and does not become a goal in itself, it helps create order and clarify
thought.”[5] He thinks teaching teenagers respect for rules is one important aspect of PE. In sports,
especially competitive sports, teenagers can make activities more fun, intense and eye-catching by
abiding by rules, understanding rules and even modifying rules, thus fostering their awareness of
complying with social codes and engaging in public affairs.
In Olympic movement, Coubertin spared no efforts in advocating fair play. “People need to abide by
written and unwritten rules. These rules make people observe fair codes of conduct and sports
regulations on one hand and avoid violence in sports on the other hand.”[6] It can be inferred from this
paragraph that Coubertin firmly believes the importance of rules but don’t think written rules can
guarantee complete observance of rules. To ensure that competitors abide by rules willingly, Coubertin
raised respect for rules to the plane of religion. In November 1894, Coubertin first came to the ruins of
Olympia. “Cool, pure air, fragrant with the scent of the fields, wafted from the banks of the Alphaeus.
For a moment, the moon lit up a vaporous landscape, then the starry night fell on the two thousand years
I had come to recapture.” [7] Coubertin’s knowledge of ancient Greek culture and Olympia convinced
him that faith is the best regulation. “To me, sport was a religion with its church, dogmas, services---but above a religious feeling.”[8] He expressed his feeling towards sports publicly and carried on
physical faith dating back to ancient Greek.
Coubertin based physical faith upon inheritance of fine traditions of ancient Olympic Games. For
example, the sacrifice in ancient Olympics reflects people’s faith in the reigning order. People convene
in Olympia not only to pay tribute to the past but expect a better future. The function and goal of
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Olympics is to transcend the boundary of time and space to merge the past with the future. Before the
opening of ancient Olympics, qualified athletes would go to the temple of Zeus and swear they will not
taint the games and compete without compromising their conscience. [9] The rituals, especially physical
faith, apply to modern Olympics and development of modern people’s faith. Therefore, the practice of
taking oath in Olympics has been continued.
Besides, in order to guide youth and adolescents and make them discern what’s right and what’s wrong
in the society, comply with social rules and fairness and credibility upheld by Olympism, Coubertin
summarized the value of PE as “a school for fostering chivalry.” “In our time, the aspiration after money
has resulted in many bad things. After the inhuman massacre (First World War), this worshipping of
money is jeopardizing the emancipation course being carried on by its victims with dauntlessness and
heroism. In our time, conscience is being trampled, credibility is lost. It’s imperative in our time to
establish a school for chivalry and make young people know that success can be attainted only though
perseverance, constant efforts, rightful and above-board means. Sports can serve as such a school.”[10]
2.3 Development of Character
Coubertin took the roles of sports in fashioning teenagers’ mind and character as one motive for
reviving Olympics. “Man isn’t made of body and mind only, but body, mind and character. Character
comes not from mind, but body.”[11] This thought was first expressed by 18th century British pedagogist
Thomas Arnold. What impressed Coubertin most is Arnold took only 14 years to reform Rugby school
he presided at. “He didn’t publicize nor interfere much. Through the example of Rugby school he helped
change other schools. Soon afterwards, the basis of Great Britain was founded.”[12] Arnold’s sayings
“sports are activities with which youth educate themselves” and “making physical exercise more
beneficial, comprehensive and frequent means to develop character” convince Coubertin deeply. The
biggest inspiration Coubertin got touring England is that British people thought developing character
and wakening potential are more important than feeding children knowledge at an early stage. Their
children “embark on outdoor activities instead of acquiring knowledge at a very young age.”[13] How
beautiful will it be if this scene is seen in France and other parts of the world!
Just as Coubertin said, sporting character is where the Olympic movement moves people. The results of
competitive sports can be overtaken constantly but sporting character remains all along important. For
example, half a century ago, Udodov won the first Olympic gold medal for Soviet Union in Helsinki
Olympics. Because he was an inmate in a German fascist camp (Udodov suffered severe torturing,
became mentally disordered, but he didn’t betray his country. However, this experience still led to unfair
treatment.) . His Olympic weight-lifting results are neglected in many countries’ Olympic documents.
Udodov always dismisses these sufferings and unfairness with a smile. “I know the truth, and those
sports experts know. That’s enough.”[14]
In 1897, at the 2nd Olympic congress, representatives from more than ten countries discussed four
issues concerning the future of Olympic movement: education, health, clothes and sports. They
specifically discussed “the moral effect of physical exercise on children, adolescents; influence of effort
on the formation of character and the development of personality” in the education section. [15] It can be
seen that Coubertin attached great importance to the role of sports in affecting and fostering teenagers’
moral standards. He tried to employ the all-influential and honour-inspiring Olympic Games as an
education platform to extol the value of sports in molding characters and call teenagers world-over to
strive for sports and even life.
Incessant efforts of Coubertin and the personality education he advocated got recognized by people at
last. Olympic movement went to the east soon after becoming popular in Europe and America.
Philippine, China and Japan cofounded Far East Olympic Committee in 1911(It was recognized by IOC
in 1920 and renamed Far East sports association). It organized 10 Far East games from 1913 to 1934,
playing an active role in disseminating Olympic movement in East Asia. One of the Japanese delegates
at the League of Nations said to Coubertin: “It is impossible to imagine to what extent the revival of the
Olympic Games has transformed my country. Since we have been taking part in the Games, our youth
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has taken on a fresh lease of life.”[16] Coubertin wrote proudly in his <memoir>: “if the war were one
day to prevent an Olympiad from being celebrated in Europe (the eruption of the first world war resulted
in the cancellation of 6th Olympics), the following would be staged there, and that if the youth of this
continent were temporarily forced to relinquish the Olympic flame, there would be another youth on the
other side of the world ready to take over.”[17]
2.4 Maintaining Peace
It’s well-known that modern Olympics inherited the peace idea of ancient Olympics. This idea
originated from <The sacred truce> signed among ancient Greek city states. At 800BC, ancient Greek
was still a slave society with many warring city states. In the minds of ancient Greeks, the best thing is
to attend the magnificent occasion to offer sacrifice to Zeus----Olympic Games. To ensure smooth
progressing of the Games, city states signed <The sacred truce> in which it is stated that warring parties
should cease fire during the Olympic Games however intense the war might be. Otherwise it will be a
blasphemy to gods and deserves punishment. At around 420BC, during the 90th Olympic Games,
Spartans sent 1000 strong foot soldiers to attack Philcas stronghold in Leprian, Ellis. The act was
severely condemned by other city states. The Spartans was not only disqualified for the Olympic Games
but also fined a big amount. Although Sparta was the most powerful city state in that time, it could still
afford to violate the sacred truce. “The sacred truce” has since gone down in the history as a symbol of
peace maintenance.
Coubertin witnessed cruel wars in France and Europe. Tears welled up in his eyes when he read
Daudet’s novel at the age of 11: The teacher in conceded area finished one last French class with earnest
and wrote on the blackboard “long live France!” [18] The scar of war and the suffering of a refugee made
Coubertin hate war badly. That’s why one of the eternal themes of his PE idea is to promote peace
through sports. On 25th Nov, 1892, when Coubertin gave speech in Sorbonne University and first
touched the idea of reviving Olympics, he pointed out one of the goals is to promote peace. He said
scientific advances such as telegraph, railway and telephone and conferences and expositions are
obviously more conducive to world peace than any agreements and diplomatic accords, while sports
gatherings are more effective than any of them. His explanation for this is that sports can afford an
eligible vent for people’s instinct offensive urge so as to make people face life’s unfairness and setbacks
with more sensibility. What’s more, if every citizen can do sports, the possibility of groups even
countries going to war will be greatly decreased.
Coubertin supports youth in participating competitive sports, considering it not only good for world
peace but friendship among nations. He refers to international sporting encounters as “the free trade of
the future”, seeing the athletes as “ambassadors of peace”. [19] He even declared that “war is the result of
miscomprehensions between nations. Only after overcoming prejudices dividing nations can peace be
maintained. To attain this goal, what better ways are there than convening youths of nations to compare
strength and agility? [20] In his famous <Ode to sport>, he praised without reserve: “Oh sport, you are
peace! You forge happy bonds between the peoples by drawing them together in reverence for strength
which is controlled, organized and self disciplined. Through you the young of the entire world learn to
respect one another, and thus the diversity of national traits becomes a source of generous and peaceful
emulation!”
3 Conclusion
Although Coubertin’s time is different from ours, it’s not difficult to find some historical coincidence
through previous elaboration and analysis. For example, the major task and challenge we face now in
terms of PE is “building physical strength.” We can learn from what Coubertin did in France to push
forward educational reform and find ways to inspire Chinese youth’s sports passion. One thing is certain
that without the guidance of correct values any administrative policy will not have long-term effect.
Besides, I think “developing respect for rules” and “molding character” are not only educational values
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cherished by government and citizens but also the bargaining chip for PE to gain more weight in
China’s current education system. Only by letting Chinese people understand the intrinsic value of
sports can sports become an indispensable part of people’s life. What’s more, “pursuit of peace” is a
time-honoured idea of human being. Just like the “sacred truce” signed by ancient Greek city states,
modern people need such a sacred truce too. 2008 Beijing Olympics showed Chinese youth such an
agreement: Olympism is a beautiful agreement created by human being. It calls people to pursue internal
benevolence and fairness and contribute to human society’s peace and friendship. Therefore, it’s hopeful
that the ideas Coubertin conceived and put into practice and the values of PE deduced from them
(improving physical health, building up confidence, developing awareness of teamwork and respect of
rules, activating body, molding character, maintaining peace and promoting friendship) can also
provoke some thoughts of modern Chinese on PE.
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