Alright, this issue sounds like a broken record to me...give PE the respect it deserves. We all have heard that the US is one of the most obese countries in the world and we all want to do something to fix that, yet our students are seeing less and less physical activity time in school because all of the time goes to standardized testing or meeting state standards or something to do with meeting requirements created by leaders who have no education background. Less recess, activity breaks and PE time are not helping the fight against childhood obesity. According to Helen Durkin of the International Health, Racquet & Sportsclub Association, only 6 states require PE in every grade and only 3 states require at least 150 mins of PE/week in elementary schools. In my school my students get one 40 minutes session of PE a week! And with holidays and different school activities that means I only see my students 32 times a year! How crazy is that?!
In the article Helen did point out that one recent movement, in fact one I have joined at my school is the "Let's Move in Schools" act created by Michelle Obama that aims to get students up and moving. WHile acts and programs like Fuel Up to Play are great supplemental programs, nothing compares to regular physical activity and physical education class.
Durkin, H. (2013, March 11). Giving pe the respect it deserves. The Hill. Retrieved from http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/healthcare/287309-giving-pe-the-respect-it-deserves
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Hi Alexandra,
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with your post, especially at the elementary level students need all the instructional time they can get in PE classes and it is constantly being taken away or shortened due to standardized testing or other common core items. I know all subjects in common core are important but so is the fact that the United States is “the most obese nation on earth”.
Education of proper exercise and fitness starts at the elementary school level and students are learning that PE and electives (myself included teaching business education) aren’t as important as core subjects. I feel so much instructional time is lost throughout the school year and many times at my school we don’t get much warning, sometimes we’ll get an email the day of that there’s going to be an assembly and we won’t see students for the day but we get to go to all the assemblies for supervision.
As much as I feel business education is important to students because most likely 95% of them will work in a business I think the constant excuses of students not having PE has to stop. Students need to have some physical activity on a daily basis and since many parents don’t enforce this on the home front it is vital that educators incorporate into the school schedule, unless we want to continue are run as being the most obese nation. This article was very interesting and I think change in the future is necessary, thanks for sharing! - Chris
I also agree! Where I am teaching, my 5th grade students have gym for one quarter of the school year. The remaining quarters are split among art, music, and computers/library. In addition to the lack of gym for most of the school year, my students only have one 15 minute recess (2:05-2:20pm) each day! I really think that the lack of recreation and physical activity is a great cause of restlessness in students! PE is very important for the physical and mental health of our students.
ReplyDeleteHi Alexandra,
ReplyDeleteGreat article! I couldn't agree with you more!
Childhood obesity is skyrocketing and to think that they are cutting back on physical education is school is just sad. If children are (clearly not) being taught at home that physical exercise is important than how are they ever going to learn if schools are pushing it to the wayside. I think some sort of physical education should be at least required weekly, if not daily.
It's nice to know that there are programs out there that are really trying to promote physical education but I really wish all states would make it mandatory.
Thanks for the good read,
Ashleigh