In a Different Voice

Abstract

Eleanor Metheny devoted more than four decades of her life to the profession of physical education. From an examination of her work, several major themes emerge in her speaking and writing—scientific, historical, feminist, and philosophical. Ideas are overlapping, sometimes even contradictory; yet she is recognized as one of the preeminent thinkers in the profession. Never satisfied with the status quo, she regularly challenged and cajoled her students and colleagues to examine the past, assess the present, and look to the future. She was both pragmatic and idealistic, but when she spoke, others listened—to ideas often articulated “in a different voice.” My purpose in this paper is not to evaluate those ideas but rather to describe them from my personal point of view and as I perceived them to have developed over time.