Physical education classes were not made for me. I struggled with asthma growing up, so any activity that required running – or even just moving quickly – was something I physically could not do without risking a severe reaction. I was also not very coordinated. It seemed every game we played in class involving a ball, I got hit in the face. Laughter from my classmates usually accompanied my frenzied search for my glasses that were knocked off in the collision with the ball. It was beyond embarrassing. I grew to hate PE, and along with it, physical activity of any kind. Why should I bother to try in class when I knew I would just end up in the nurse’s office struggling to breathe or holding an ice pack to my head? Sadly, I am not alone in my hatred of physical education classes.
Activities benefit those already physically fit while leaving behind a large population of students. They push competition, while most would rather cooperate. They favor healthy, able-bodied students while ostracizing those with limiting medical conditions and disabilities. Those students left out often begin negatively associating these experiences with physical activity of any kind. In a study published in the Transitional Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers found a correlation between sedentary behavior and negative experiences in physical education classes (Ladwig et al. ).
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These classes were created in good faith. Their goal is to provide students with the skills and knowledge to foster a lifelong relationship with physical activity. However, the reality is that these classes do the opposite. Physical education classes in their current form do more harm than good regarding students’ lifelong relationship with physical activity.
Adolescent development is greatly benefited by physical activity. Children who participate in the recommended sixty minutes of daily activity are generally happier and healthier overall. Active children have lower rates of depression and anxiety, and activity has been shown to help alleviate symptoms in those with depression and anxiety diagnoses. Activity can also help students achieve in the academic realm. Studies have shown that students who participate in even moderate-intensity physical activities (such as walking) on most days achieve higher scores on standardized tests (DSG SOURCE).
The health benefits of physical activity are even more numerous. Physical activity reduces the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and all-cause mortality. Active children are also more likely to have a lower BMI—the measure of a person’s body composition by comparing height to weight. Even obese and overweight children can benefit from physical activity. The risk of heart disease and all-cause mortality drops in obese people with as little as 10 minutes of walking a day, and a reduction in BMI can occur with longer bouts of activity. With all the mental, physical, and academic benefits associated with physical activity, why are children avoiding physical education classes, and physical activity later in life?
The way physical education classes are structured now is a major problem. Current classes focus on competitive, team-based sports and nationally comparable physical fitness levels. Activities are often boring and outdated and allow those who play the sport outside of class to dominate. This structure excludes those, like me, who don’t respond well to competition with others. In his TEDx talk at USC, Rodney Mullen – the father of street skateboarding – stated that he hated traditional sports for this very reason. He hated the feeling of a coach hovering over him as he went up against an opponent standing across from him. He stated that he withdrew from sports and activities until he discovered skateboarding, which emphasized more self-competition (Mullen).
Competition with others only pushes those who are at or within a high level of skill. The Presidential Fitness Test – which thankfully was replaced in 2012 – pitted children against others of their age group from around the country in several tests of physical fitness to receive recognition from the President of the United States. “It forced unathletic kids to try and fail to be athletic…It made them associate exercise with failure (Sherman).” Even athletic kids floundered under the pressure of the Presidential Fitness Test. Students had to place in the top 15th percentile to achieve recognition, and many failed the flexibility test, the sit and reach. Some students reported cheating on this portion to achieve the required scores, while some even reported that their PE teacher fudged their scores for these students to achieve the recognition.
Physical education is also being pushed to the side by administrations. The time requirements for physical education classes vary widely from state to state, and even school district to school district. Currently, only three states require physical education classes that meet the recommendations for physical activity put forth by the CDC. According to a study of school physical education plans, “nearly half of school administrators reported cutting significant time from physical education and recess to increase time spent in reading and mathematics (Kohl & Cook).” School administrators are putting less of an emphasis on physical activity, and that is translating to students as well. If the people in charge of deciding what is important to learn are saying that being active is not that important, why should students think that it is important? When I was in high school, I only had PE class twice a week for 41 minutes each class. After taking time to change, walking out to where the class was being held, and allowing time to change back to street clothes, actual physical activity time was often cut down to only 15 minutes.
Poor instructors also play a major role in students’ poor experiences in PE classes. Until very recently, many PE teachers did not come from an exercise science or related background. In fact, in most states, it is not even a requirement to have any sort of degree related to education to become a teacher.
A major issue I had with physical education classes was that nothing was explained to us. It was assumed that you understood the rules of a game, or the proper form for throwing a ball. Someone, who like me did not come from a family interested in sports, needed the instruction beforehand to avoid embarrassment. In the study from the University of Alberta, many students reported not being told the rules or strategies of the activity before playing. “I don’t remember the actual rules of any of the sports ever really being clearly explained to us…it was assumed that we all knew the rules.” Embarrassment followed when one who didn’t know the rules made a mistake. “You would make a mistake and someone would blow the whistle and then you know your teammates would scowl at you (Strean 215).” What kid likes to be embarrassed? Often, they will start to avoid the source of their embarrassment, by either cutting class or not trying during class. I stopped putting in effort during all but a few PE classes, or even pretended to be sick to get out of having to participate. I had friends who went even further – skipping class or getting a doctor’s note to excuse them from PE classes.
The activities in physical education classes exclude a large population of students. Those with physical and developmental disabilities, health issues like asthma, and overweight students are often left on the sidelines while those athletic students dominate the game.
More and more adults today are sedentary or have very low levels of physical activity. Many of these adults have made the connection between their current sedentary behavior to poor physical education experiences. A participant in a study conducted at the University of Alberta writes,
So, my major beef with the so-called physical education that I received as a kid is that it robbed me of the joy of physical activity for many years. It did nothing whatever to establish habits of balance in life between the cerebral and the physical. It did not promote habits of physical and mental health that can be derived from participation in physical play. Instead, the focus seemed to be on achieving excellence in a competitive setting. It destroyed my physical confidence. (Stream 217)
Works Cited
- Ladwig, Matthew A., et al. “‘My Best Memory Is When I Was Done with It’: PE Memories Are Associated with Adult Sedentary Behavior.” Transitional Journal of the ACSM, 2018, pp. 119–129.
- Strean, William B. “Remembering Instructors: Play, Pain and Pedagogy.” Qualitative Research in Sport and Exercise, vol. 1, no. 3, Nov. 2009, pp. 210–220.
- Kohl, Harold W., and Heather D. Cook, editors. Educating the Student Body: Taking Physical Activity and Physical Education to School. The National Academies Press, 2013.
- Mullen, Rodney. “Pop an ollie and innovate!” YouTube, uploaded by TED, Feb 2, 2015.
- Sherman, Rodger. “The sad, sad stories of the Presidential Fitness Test.” SBNation.com, Jul 31, 2015.
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