Students serve as personal trainers to senior citizens as part of the advanced weight training class. Teens learn how to juggle, golf and swing dance in physical education classes. Good manners and other social skills are an integral part of the physical education program.At these schools and countless others across the nation, gym class bears little resemblance to the competitive, military-style model of generations past. Gone are the funny-looking gym suits, the unisex classes with group showers and the dreaded -- and often humiliating -- compulsory rope climbs.
Instead, there is a growing trend toward what educators call "Quality PE," characterized by coed classes designed to help students gain the knowledge and skills they need to be fit and healthy in an automated, sedentary, high-stress world.
"We've removed all of the ... things possible that don't have an educational basis and now focus on health-related fitness," says Judy Young, executive director of the Reston, Va.-based National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE). In 1995, NASPE released national standards for physical education that, for the first time, specified what children should know and be able to do at different levels, from kindergarten through 12th grade.
"The central notion is that physical education is for all kids, not just the athletically gifted," notes Young, who says old-style gym class too often discouraged or ignored the very kids who most needed to get fit. "Quality physical education is designed to help all children find enjoyment in physical activity and give them a repertoire of things they can choose from to be active and healthy, hopefully for the rest of their lives."
This reinvention of physical education evolved, in part, from teacher frustration over a nationwide trend during the '80s and '90s of budget-crunched schools eliminating courses considered nonessential. Physical education classes were often among the first to go; today only one state -- Illinois -- requires all students to take daily PE. Although numerous public health groups, including the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), recommend quality daily physical education for all students, most American high schools require just one year of physical education.
These cuts in physical education have come at the same time as a dramatic widening of the student body, with the number of extremely overweight children nearly doubling in the last two decades. Some experts say mounting concern over America's epidemic of childhood obesity is bringing new and needed attention to the importance of quality physical education.
"Many scientists feel that the greatest contributor to obesity is physical inactivity," says Howell Wechsler of CDC's division of adolescent and school health. "We know that as kids get older, they get less active, with the declines starting in middle school. By high school, 35 percent of students don't get the recommended 20 minutes of vigorous physical activity at least three times a week."
There are numerous reasons why today's kids are less active than their parents were, Wechsler says, from the lure of sedentary pastimes such as video games, computers and TV to the lack of sidewalks and safe places to play. "From the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s, walking and biking decreased by 40 percent among 5 to 15 year olds," notes Wechsler, who says quality physical education is essential "to make students feel good about their competency and to make activity fun."
In addition, he says, "we need to set a climate where physical activity is incorporated into the daily routine." Strategies could range from making stairwells attractive and safe to offering after-school programs for kids of all ability levels in noncompetitive activities such as hiking, climbing, dance and yoga.
While quality physical education helps students find joy in movement, the new PE is not just fun and games. For example, in Howard County, Md., public schools, high schoolers must now take a one-semester course called Lifetime Fitness, which teaches them how to assess their fitness levels -- using tools such as a heart-rate monitor -- and how to set up a program to improve their cardiovascular endurance, flexibility and strength.
"People say it's 'just PE,' when as far as I'm concerned, it's a core subject that teaches you how to get and stay healthy, so you don't die of a heart attack or a stroke at age 40," says Deidra Reynolds, a physical education teacher at Herndon (Va.) Middle School. "The stress levels in America are so high, and there's a lot of pressures on these kids. PE is movement, and movement can help relieve stress."
In an era marked by teen violence, depression and suicide, "part of our responsibility is to help students develop in different areas of their lives, including personal, social and emotional," says Oliver Bridges, a physical education teacher. "We teach manners, we try to eliminate the win-at-all-cost mentality and we encourage students to recognize that you gain just from participating."
Parents who want to assess the quality of their child's physical education program should look for these characteristics, advises NASPE's Young:
Every student with equipment. When working on ball-handling skills, students shouldn't have to share one ball among 10 people. No human target games. Dodge ball may be fine for students who want to play it at recess, but it's an inappropriate classroom activity because it eliminates kids rather than encouraging them to participate fully. Small-sided games. Games and drills can be played 2-on-2 or 3-on-3, as opposed to in a large group where only a few are really involved. No withholding of physical activity as punishment. No use of physical activity (i.e., running laps or doing push-ups) as punishment. A wide variety. Youngsters should be introduced to activities they can do recreationally throughout their lives, ranging from traditional American sports such as volleyball and basketball to activities such as aerobics, yoga, tai chi, climbing and in-line skating. No comparing kids to each other. The only person a youngster should compete against is himself or herself.For free brochures on quality physical education and family fitness, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to NASPE, 1900 Association Drive, Reston, Va. 20191. Visit the organization's Web site at http://www.aahperd.org/naspe or call (800) 213-7193.
