Muscletown, Oklahoma

Everyone knows that the middle-aged U.S. male is in bad physical shape. But not so apparent is the poor physical fitness of the U.S. schoolchild. Last spring Oklahoma University's Football Coach Bud Wilkinson, who is the part-time director of President Kennedy's physical-fitness program, picked Muskogee, Okla. (pop. 45,000), as a pilot case, asked the city to test all its schoolchildren. Of 6,557 kids who took the three-exercise exam consisting of pull-ups, sit-ups and squat-thrusts, 3,043 flunked. Stunned by the 46.9% failure rate, Muskogee set up an all-out fitness program for its whole school system, put it into operation this fall.

All pupils between the fourth and twelfth grades were enrolled in compulsory fitness classes. Every day the kids take 15 minutes of exercise; time spent changing clothes and taking showers does not count. After the quarter-hour of concentrated dashing, jumping, sitting up, pulling up and softball throwing, the students go back to class glowing with a sense of achievement. Says one 16-year-old: "We really did need this program. I mean, now we say to each other, 'How are you?' And the answer is 'Sore, but it's kinda fun.' "

Carried away by their own enthusiasm, some children worked out in garages with improvised weights and muscle stretchers. The sight of the kids sweating and grunting began to make Muskogee parents feel guilty. Y.M.C.A. classes sprouted for men. Housewives did push-ups in their living rooms. Calisthenics booklets, furnished by an oil company, disappeared from local gas stations. To encourage the school program, doctors offered to give free medical exams. "A kid can be plenty healthy, but still not in decent shape," says Alph Stamphill, an elementary school principal in charge of the city's program. "There's one eleven-year-old boy who weighs about 200 lbs. and is so strong he could cart off an anvil under each arm. But he can't hoist himself up to the chinning bar."

This month, after six weeks of muscle flexing, Muskogee's schoolchildren who failed the first test tried again. This time 78.9% passed.

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