6: Physical Education

A major issue among Americans is the health problems that are arising from the lack of physical activity they are participating in. A lot of individuals do not understand that the lack of physical activity can cause serious health problems down the road. One reason for the lack of understanding is that school do not put as much emphasize on it as they should. This chapter discusses how to successfully implement a physical education program in schools so that children can learn life long activities to help improve and maintain their overall wellness.
Schools are in a great position to teach the students the benefits of lifetime physical activity. They can hire a professional to properly supervise and give instruction; they have all the facilities and equipment to broaden the student’s interests; and they have the power to force students into a physical education class so they can at least have an opportunity to participate in some sport, or learn how it affects their well-being. The problem is that most schools do not do this. In 1995 only 25% of students participated in daily physical education. At the elementary level, only eight states require physical educators to have certificates and only 74% of all secondary physical education teachers were certified in health and physical education. This is a problem; physical education teachers, who are not certified, do not understand the wide variety of activities that should be used during a class, and more importantly can not help students and the school deal with questions or issues regarding physical education. Coaches even play an important role. When the physical education teachers are not involved with the sports programs, some coaches have no one to refer back to in terms of creating a safe, enjoyable, and healthful atmosphere for the student athletes. Schools also place very little importance on physical education, not just in terms of hiring a certified teacher, but by not requiring the students more time in a physical education classroom. The centers for disease and control established some guidelines to help physical education in the classroom:
1.) Establish policies that promote enjoyable, lifelong physical activities.
2.) Provide physical and social environments that encourage and enable young people to engage in safe and enjoyable physical activity.
3.) Implement sequential physical education curricula and instruction in grades K-12.
4.) Implement health education curricula that feature active learning strategies and follow the national health education standards and help students develop the knowledge, attitudes, and skills they need to adopt and maintain a healthy lifestyles.
5.) Provide extracurricular physical activity programs that offer diverse, developmentally appropriate activities.
6.) Encourage parents and guardians to support their children’s participation in physical activities.
7.) Provide training to enable teachers, coaches, recreation and health care staff, and other school and community personnel to promote enjoyable, lifelong physical activity to young people.
8.) Assess the physical activity patterns of young people, refer them to appropriate physical activity programs, and advocate for physical activity instruction and programs for young people.
9.) Provide a range of developmentally appropriate community sports and recreation programs that are attractive to all young people.
10.) Regularly evaluate physical education instruction, programs, and facilities.
By addressing these current needs of the students and developing skills, values, and knowledge to sustain behaviors that promote health, such as physical activity, students are going to be more aware of the importance of participating in a lifelong activity.
I thought this chapter hit everything right on the head. I couldn’t agree more with what they said and the suggestions they gave. I really do believe that many of today’s health issues come from a lack of physical activity, and I feel that it needs to start in the schools. I believe that it comes down to three main reason why schools are failing miserably at this, like in the chapter: there are not enough highly qualified physical education teachers; there is not enough life long and noncompetitive physical activities practiced; and schools do not put as much emphasize on it as they should. Once schools start to recognize these issues, then chronic disease rates will start to go down.