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Physical Education in schools
By workoutmommy | April 2, 2008
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Do you remember PE class?
The hour when you got pummeled by dodge balls and were forced to do
jumping jacks for 20 consecutive minutes?
I remember it, and must admit that once I got to middle school, I hated it. I did not like to be told to run laps when all I wanted to do was sit on the bench and talk to my friends.
Ironic, isn’t it? What I wouldn’t do now for a free hour to go run some laps. Even better if I had a coach/instructor (other than my 2 year old) telling me to run faster. When I am out running, I do not want to stop and chat with any friends. I want to run and make the most of my free time.
I recently found out that the elementary schools in my area only have physical education class once every SIX days. Seriously, once every SIX days? These schools are sending the message to our kids they only need to exercise one time per week! No wonder the childhood obesity rate is through the roof.
So what can you do? Get out there and show your kids how much fun exercise can be.
Run with them, jump rope, play soccer, baseball, basketball, swim, do whatever it takes to show them how important an active lifestyle really is. Be an active role model for your children. (and let them hit you with that dodge ball every so often!)
Get up and get moving gang. No excuses!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:07 am
Sooo depressing! My son’s PE “day” is Friday. That’s right - one day. Good thing we get out every day and do something active. Sheesh.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 9:34 am
This is a great post!!! We wonder why we are the most obese country on the planet!!!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 9:43 am
That’s ridiculous. I too didn’t like being forced to run but I loved games like handball and basketball. We only had to take PE up until sophomore year, but I opted to take it all the way through senior year. I really think our country needs to take some kind of proactive steps to make kids active.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 10:26 am
Schools are struggling with an obesity issue, revamping many of their food programs, but still don’t see the benefits of PE?
It’s just crazy………..
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
Yea, even though I don’t have kids yet, this is very frustrating to me. I hated PE class when I was young too and I am betting we had it at least 2 if not 3 times per week!
I am trying to instill in the young minds at my daycare, how important physical activity is. We go outside daily, even in the winter and at some point, are running around the yard or playing catch! I have even had them do exercises during circle time and they LOVE it!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 11:22 am
Physical education class (and health class) should definitely be mandatory in high school, too. We only did it in grade 10 and then there wasn’t even the option to take it after that.
The frustrating thing about school gym class is that it’ll be the same tedious classes with no variation… all throughout junior high, the only things we ever did was volleyball and basketball in the winter, and baseball in the warmer months. In grade 10, it was awesome because we got to learn fencing and self defense and that sort of thing.
Schools really need to step it up to make kids WANT to be involved with activity! Isn’t that the point of school? To encourage an interest in learning?
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April 2nd, 2008 at 12:33 pm
I think Illinois (where I live) is currently the only state in the country that has mandatory PE for all students K-12. That’s just sad.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 12:52 pm
I was also one of the kids that generally didn’t like to exercise. I still don’t. But, I know that it’s important for elementary children to get out and exercise. I’ve read that some exercise during the day can actually improve academic achievement, and yet the schools are cutting PE and recess to increase time in the “core” subjects like math and reading in an effort to increase the scores on the students’ tests! Backwards…
I think, though, that the size of the school can have an impact on the amount of PE - I went to a small school (30 students in my grade for the whole district) until the middle of 6th grade, then my family moved and I ended up in a school with 90 students in my grade in my building, in a very large district with something like 800 students in the grade. In my small school, we did PE every day. In the big school, we did PE a couple of times a week.
Perhaps in the big schools the amount of PE you get is directly related to the number of students in the building - if you have 600 students that require PE, only one gym teacher and gymnasium, and only 6 effective hours in a school day, you can’t realistically expect one gym teacher to handle 100 elementary students for an hour at a time. Even if you cut that in half, and dealt with 50 students at a time for 30 mintues, it’s stretching the limits. Maybe rural schools are a little better off, health-wise.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:13 pm
If you can dodge traffic, you can dodge a ball.
(and I had no idea about the lack of phys-ed time. at all. more motivation to make the Tornado run around because we all know that takes a LOT of encouraging :))
M.
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April 2nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
My daughter who is in second grade gets just two days …
My son, who is four, get so exercise every day! They even swim three times a week at his school… It really helps!
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April 2nd, 2008 at 3:18 pm
Charlotte– One day is just ridiculous!
Peggasus-you live in a great state that obviously values the importance of PE classes!
Britni-good for you for continuing w/PE beyond the mandatory. Nowadays some kids can take their required PE credits ONLINE.
Isn’t that ridiculous?!
Carrie–you are absolutely correct. They don’t have the space in schools for more PE classes. I say bundle those kids up and send them outside!
Austimville–swimming 3x a week sounds like a great plan to me! I take my son at night one time a week and he loves it, plus it wears him out. (bonus!)
April 2nd, 2008 at 4:52 pm
Sagan, it seems that, lately, school is mostly about standardized testing. A lot of schools don’t even offer subjects that aren’t on the tests anymore!
It’s really sad. I sometimes wonder if local gyms or YMCAs could send volunteers (or even pay their employees), a couple times a week, to local schools to teach phys ed.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Carrie’s right about the connection between physical activity and academic success. There’s more and more research lending credence to this all the time.
But while I love the fact that there’s finally evidence of a mind/body connection, it infuriates me that children’s BODIES are given so little consideration. Even if we didn’t have a childhood obesity crisis on our hands — and we most certainly do — it’s preposterous to think that children don’t need to develop their motor skills and improve/maintain their physical fitness. PE (and I hated it, too, when I was a kid; but it’s changed for the better since then!) should be offered daily from preschool until high school graduation day.
April 2nd, 2008 at 5:59 pm
PE in schools = sad situation.
(but I had to comment because I love that graphic…I was the dodgeball queen of my grade, LOL!)
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April 2nd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
I am from Sydney Australia. Health is compulsory here through to grade 7 - 10 (that is, the first 4 years of high school) and the last 2 years you can take it as an elective. Health class was 4 times a week and was theoretical and activity based. On top of this our high school had school sport as something extra with a range of activities from swimming, to power walking, gym and rollerblading. Each semester you put in 3 preferences and were allocated a sport for a semester (with there being 4 semesters per year).
Sounds like a lot and it felt like a lot at the time. And yet Australia still has a high rate of obesity! Im not sure what it takes for ppeople to realise they also need to faciliate activity outside of school (because lets face it - school sport is never fun) and make sure kids eat right!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:13 pm
Rae Pica-I so agree. It should be required every single day. I know I feel so much better when I get up and move each day, so why shouldn’t we do the same for the kids?
Katieo- I think you should bring out your crown and defend your title!
My area has organized dodge ball teams which I’ve always wanted to join!
Becky-good point that despite being required in the schools there still needs to be an emphasis on what happens outside of the schools. That is why it is so important for us to be healthy and fit role models!
April 2nd, 2008 at 9:28 pm
I remember having PE at least 2 days a week growing up, and we has 30 minute recess each day. I was lucky that 2 of the schools I taught at had amazing PE teachers. One of them ran a running club and a jump rope club in addition to always offering to help teachers integrate movement into our classrooms. It is a shame that kids now rarely get physical activity during the school day, especially with so many kids not getting much outside of school. I do as much as I can active with my kids so that it becomes second nature to them- I don’t want to have to force it on them later!
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April 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
I have sad, bad memories of PE - I remember running “The Mile” for the Presidential Physical Fitness Test (actually, “running” should be in quotes, as I walked most of it. This was due to both low stamina and a serious dedication towards my wall of hairspray-shellacked bangs). I think I finished it in 15 minutes and was sweaty for the next six periods of class. The fact that today, I voluntarily run numerous miles a week (well, I will when it gets above -80 degrees, anyways) is a true miracle.
April 3rd, 2008 at 12:03 am
PS Thanks, Workout Mommy, for the shoutout about the Today Show on MizFit’s blog! Very thoughtful
April 4th, 2008 at 12:22 am
Hey, I was/am a phys ed teacher. In my state the kids are lucky to get a qualified teacher!! In the public schools, the kids get 50 minutes every week. Supposedly the teachers are supposed to make up the other 50 but they never do!! Denise Austin is on the Pres. phys fitness council…you should email her to whisper in the Presidents ear to mandate phys ed for everyday.
I am a bit opinionated on this subject.
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