Rational recreation.

Rational recreation

By the 19th century, respectable culture, now viewed as beneficial to health, was bestowed upon the lower classes. It became important to find 'improving' activities for the working classes whose work and leisure time were clearly segregated by industrialisation. Public spaces that still seem to stand for a shared culture - public libraries, museums and parks - were established to provide 'rational recreation' for the lower orders (although no games or sports were allowed in municipal gardens.) The genteel philanthropists and self-improving artisans who founded mechanics' institutes or branches of the YMCA set out to draw skilled workers and urban clerks away from the pubs and the music halls: culture for the people should be different from popular culture.

This was the age when society might be nourished by what Matthew Arnold infamously called "sweetness and light" (a phrase filched from sardonic usage by Swift). Such Victorian impulses had a long life: they were still present in the Reithianism of the early BBC, which explicitly set out to uplift popular culture. Arguably, they were also key in the shaping of postwar British cinema, particularly through censorship policy. It was not just prudishness behind this, but anxiety about the influence of this brassy medium. (In 1950 up to one third of the British population were going to the cinema at least once a week.) In the 20th century, high culture drew energy from an antagonism to popular culture.

As John Carey's Intellectuals and the Masses (1992) documented, much of modernism in art and literature grew from a revulsion for mass culture (including mass literacy and mass political enfranchisement). Indeed, the idea of the masses, suborned by cultural technology, replaced that of 'the people', clinging to vulgar traditions and pastimes. The very phrase 'popular culture' signifies a later development whose effects are still with us. From the founding of media studies courses in the 1950s to Christopher Ricks lecturing on Bob Dylan, one tendency has been to rescue popular culture for serious discussion. What was once low can be raised: Pilgrim's Progress, the poetry of Burns and Hollywood film noir have all become high culture. Yet the phrase also belies the fact that much of 'popular culture' may appeal strongly to everyone, regardless of class or education.

As the fearful 18th-century excoriators of the novel realised, 'high' and 'low' - Bach and Big Brother - can be appetites of one individual. In the cultural pages of this newspaper, high and low seem happily to inhabit the same space. Maybe, as some giddy postmodernists have declared, this means that cultural hierarchies are meaningless - that we live in a cultural Disneyland, where everything is parody and nothing can be better or worse. The history of popular culture lets us see that this is not so. On the contrary, some of the life of culture is in the very crackle of antagonism between high and low. Before the ideal of high culture for paying consumers was invented, popular genres were available to the most elevated of writers and artists, who were able to enjoy the clashes (and sometimes unexpected affinities) between refinement and vulgarity. Why should we not do so too?

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Candidate pro-active involvement in linking functional origins of major activity profiles, eg. field sports and hunting instincts and food. Characteristics of      popular recreation, eg. localised, rural, occasional, etc. applied to activities not detailed later, eg. combats such as the prize ring. Candidate comments on whether these characteristics still exist today.
Sources: Davis et al. PE & the Study of Sport, Chapt. 22. Harcourt Brace. 2000 with associated CD-Rom. 2000.
Davis,RJ. A Teachers’ Guide. History of Sport Part One, Popular Recreation
Wymer,N. Sport in England. Harrap. 1949. (Extracts from RJD)

2. Pre-Industrial characteristics: Candidate review of conditions in rural England from a rural festival video or slide. Characteristics of pre-industrial Britain, eg. feudal lifestyle, limited transport, changing religious attitudes to sport, etc. Candidate comments on changes today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport, Chapt. 22 & Teachers’ Guide (Part One).
Brailsford,D. Sport in Society. British Sports, A Social History. Lutterworth. 1992.

3. Popular Aquatic activities: Candidates review riverside town slide to assess popular sports, including fishing rowing, shooting and sailing; rambling and use of water meadows for festivals and games. Bathing as a popular activity, cleanliness, recreation, survival and competitive festivals. Candidates to note reasons for changes today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 22 & Teachers’ Guide (Part One).

4. Traditional Sports Festivals: Candidate review of Dover Games slide and regatta scene. The development of festivals before in rural Britain, including ethnic sports occasions, pedestrianism and wakes together with cultural influences, such as church attitudes. Candidates to identify changes today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 22 & Teachers’ Guide (Part One).
Marples,M.      Shanks’s Pony.     (extract from RJD).

5. Early Target and Mob Games: Candidate review of early cricket slide. Explanations for the early development of cricket. A study of mob football as it reflected popular characteristics and the cultural influences on this. Candidate assessment as to the reasons for some versions of mob games remaining today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 22 & Teachers’ Guide (Part One).
Young, P. History of British Football. Stanley Paul. 1968.

6. Variables arising in Real Tennis: Candidate review of a real tennis slide. The development of real tennis as a unique recreation and the cultural factors which determined this variation. Comments on the continued existence of the game.
Sources: as before. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 22 & Teachers’ Guide (Part One).
Harris,HA. Sport in Britain. Stanley Paul. 1975.

7. Introduction to Public School influences: Candidate review of any known factors about public schools and athleticism, using a slide, eg. the Eton Wall Game. Analysis of characteristics the types of public school in the 19th century and the characteristics of the Clarendon schools. Brief study of the consequences of ‘boarding’ and liberal headmasters, like Dr Thomas Arnold.
Sources: Davis et al. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 23 with associated CD-Rom. 2000.
Davis,RJ. A Teachers’ Guide. History of Sport Part Two. Public School Athleticism.
McIntosh,PC. PE in England since 1800. Bell. 1952.
Smith,WD. Stretching their Bodies. David and Charles. 1974.

8. Technical and social developments, Phase One: Candidate review of boys joining the boarding schools, re. background and non-local, using Tom Brown’s Schooldays, The Veast. Analysis of    ‘Boy Culture’ in schools, with eg. from Tom Brown of Bathing & Poaching episodes. Candidates consider differences in schools today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 23 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Two). (Includes extracts from Tom Brown)
Hughes,T. Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Extracts and/or video.

9. Technical and social developments, Phase Two: Candidate review of the football game in Tom Brown video. Analysis of influences by liberal Headmasters like Dr Arnold of Rugby, including his treatment of boys, responsibilities given to the Sixth Form, particularly in the playground, and the production of Christian Gentlemen. Candidate review of ‘The Fight’ in Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Candidate review of responsibilities for organising sport in schools today.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 23   & Teachers’ Guide (Part Two).
Hughes,T. Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Extracts and/or video.
Percival, AC. Very Superior Men. Knight. 1973.

10. Technical and social developments, Phase Three: Candidates review the cricket match slide/OHP. Analysis of the development of Athleticism: Physical Endeavour and Moral Integrity. Particular reference made to bathing, athletics, games and racquets Explanation of development by the boys and young teachers and the ‘melting pot’ principle. Emergence of Girls’ High Schools and lesser public schools. Candidates review values then and now.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 23 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Two).
Hughes,T. Tom Brown’s Schooldays. Extract and/or video.
Simon,B & Bradley,I. The Victorian Public School. Gill & Macmillan.

11. Introduction to Rational Recreation: Candidates to look at combat video showing changes into Rational Recreation characteristics, including regularity, high organisation and moral values. Analysis of post industrial social characteristics which determined these changes from popular to rational, including, work conditions and free time, transport and the railways, new Church attitudes, urbanisation, etc. Candidate review of changing fixture and holiday patterns then and now.
Sources: Davis et al PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24. 2000,with associated CD-Rom. 2000.
Davis,RJ. A Teachers’ Guide. Part Three. Rational Recreation. 2000.
Holt,R. Sport and the British. Clarendon Press. 1992.

12. Rational Bathing and Swimming: Candidate comments on the effect of industrialisation and urbanisation on the pattern of Bathing in the UK. Analysis of the effects of the Regency spa movement and seaside holidays. The development of public baths, including cleanliness, recreation, survival and sport criteria. Candidate comparison with the present scene in swimming.
Sources: as before. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24   & Teachers’ Guide (Part Three).
Cunningham,H. Leisure in the Industrial Society. Croom Helm. 1980.

13. The emergence of Amateur Athletic Sports: Candidate review of a rational regatta slide, picking out new developments compared with the Doggett Coat & Badge sculling competition. The development of the rational characteristics evident in athletic sports, together with the cultural determinants influencing these changes. Candidates review differences in modern athletics.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Three).
Lovesey,P. History of the AAA. Guinness Sup. 1978.

14. The development of modern Cricket and major Games: Candidate review of a rational cricket match using a slide/picture. Rational characteristics in major games, including regularity, stringent organisation and codification. Explanation of professionalism in games, including ‘bread and circuses’ notion. Candidates to briefly compare slide of 19th century soccer with present day.
Sources:   as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Three)
video. History of Football, Vol. One.
Dunning,E. & Sheard,K. Barbarians, Gentlemen and Players. NYUP. 1979.
Walvin,J. The People’s Game. Allen Lane. 1975.

15. The development of Lawn Tennis and female participation: Candidate review of lawn ternnis slide showing male involvement of new form of tennis. Analysis of rational characteristics of the game and the influence of post industrial social factors. Discussion arising from slide of mixed tennis and the Victorian female stereotype. Candidates comment on modern changes in the game.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Three)
video. History of Sport Series (Blood, Sweat & Glory).
Aberdare,Lord. The Story of Tennis. Stanley Paul. 1959. (Extracts.RJD)
Mangan,JA & Park,R. From Fair Sex to Feminism. Frank Cass. 1987.

16. Post Industrial social factors: Summary of social factors, where candidates link these with different rational sports, including industrialised work style and sports clubs, free-time and Saturday Half day, early closing movement, muscular Christianity, communications, media and transport. urbanisation and public provision for sport, etc.
Sources: as above: PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 24 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Three).
Walvin, J. Leisure and Society. Longman. 1978.
Elias,N, & Dunning,E. Quest for Excitement.   Blackwell. 1996.

17. Elementary School Drill: Candidate display of military drill (1902 Model Course) with discussion. Analysis of objectives, content and teaching method of military drill. Social factors leading to this form of centralised direct instruction.
Sources: Davis et al. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 25. 2000
with support CD-Rom. 2000
Davis,RJ. History Teachers’ Guide. Part Two. Public School Athleticism. 1998.
Model Course. HMSO. 1902. (extracts. Teachers’ Guide, Part Two Appendix).

18. Therapeutic Physical Training: Candidate display of early Ministry Syllabuses with discussion. Analysis of objectives, content, teaching methods and changing social scene.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 25. Teachers’ Guide (Part Two).
Ministry Syllabuses 1904-1933) (extracts. Teachers’ Guide, Part Two Appendix)

19. The emergence of Physical Education: Candidate display of Moving and Growing and Planning the Programme. Analysis of objectives, content and new teaching methods arising from the 1933 Syllabus and post-war developments.
Sources: as before. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 25 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Two). with extracts in Teachers Guide, Part Two, Appendix.
Min. of Ed. Moving and Growing. HMSO. 1952. Planning the Programme. HMSO. 1953.

20. 20th Century social influences: Summary of developments from drill to PE. The influence of various wars on development and influential changes in 20th century society.
Sources: as above. PE & the Study of Sport. Chapt. 25 & Teachers’ Guide (Part Two).
Polley, M. Changing the Goal Posts.   Routledge. 1998.

Synoptic Focus involving Contemporary and Historical Studies with application to a practical activity.

21. Popular Recreation as characteristics of pre-industrial society as they can be identified with remnants of these activities today and compared with any one sporting activity in its modern form and setting.

22. 19th century public school athleticism in the setting of exclusive establishments, as they concerned activities and associated values, compared with physical education and extra curricular sport in schools today.

23. Rational Recreation at the end of the 19th century, with its activity characteristics in a post industrial society, compared with the administration and codification of any one sporting activity in its modern form and setting.

24. Thematic analysis of certain specific issues which can be usefully compared in the past and present, eg. spectatorism, amateurism, professionalism, funding and sub-culture discrimination.

25. Elementary drill and physical training before the 1933 Syllabus in state schools with the modern physical education curriculum and extra curricular sports programmes today, with an awareness of changes in primary schools and the social setting.

Rational recreation.

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