Physical Education in schools
 

This is my first time posting so be gentle. Recently, I read where Washington, D.C. is no longer requiring P.E. as a requirement for graduation. With the level of the kid's physical activity diminishing in our society, am I the only one who finds that to be a dangerous precedent.

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I haven't heard about that, but I am in total agreement with you on this one. Everyday I see so many fat people, and to make things worse they seem to be younger and younger. Our country has gotten out of control with our nation's obesity problems and things like this are only going to encourage it to get worse. Boo on that decision :mad: !

It is a sad state of affairs. As far as I know, Illinois is the only state that requires Phys. Ed. throughout the full educaton cycle [elem. Jr. High and High school]. MEnawhile, schools serve crap lunches and provide access to snack and soda machines to help offset budget cuts. I suggest anyone intrerested read the new book Food Fight by Dr. Kelley Brownell of Yale...good info on this subject.

If anything, physical education should be made a higher prioity in schools! You may not ever need to know all the ancient dynasties of China, but physical fitness is something that you should stick to your entire life!

The physical education in schools is crap, in high school we did pretty much nothing .Half the kids would walk and chat when told to run. And here in California, it is required throught elementary, jr. high, and highschool.

The reason I started this post is because I am a P.E. teacher and there are crap programs out there. There are also quality programs out there that provide a vital service out there. California only requires 2 years in high school and with other states cutting back, I'm afraid we will also cut back on the requirements for Physical Education. Thaniks for the input.

People, not just children, should definitely become more active. I don't see how it's the school systems priority, or even it's responsibility.

Yeah, i agree. There is certainly some alarming trends developing in alot of public schools in the globally. It seems that its not fashionable to be a well-rounded student. The subjects that parents are pushing thier students to strive in are those concerned with business and finance. Subjects such as PE and History/ Georgraphy are on the backburner. Its quite sad really. I think we could learn alot from the Ancient Greeks, who prized the idea of humans who had a whole array of skills. Sadly, todays workplace encourages people to really specify thier skills.

In my part of Canada, PE is required all throughout school, until around grade 11, when it becomes an option not a requirement.

Problem: Kids are too damn fat.

Conservative solution: Emphasize phys ed in schools to teach them to get exercise and eat healthier food.

Liberal solution: Ditch phys ed so they don't get their poor little feelings hurt when they are too damn fat to do pushups.

And we all know who's in charge in public schools...

California banned DODGE BALL and related recess games because there are winners and losers, and the losers could get their feelings hurt. Seriously. How in the hell are any of these kids going to be able to function in the real world?!

P.E. can be useful or just useless depending on the school. My P.E. class is a lifetime sports class for one semester where we play 3 sports: raquetball, golf, and bowling. Raquetball is the only one that really gets you going though.

Physical education isn't merely playing football or hockey. It teaches children about health and society. Just look at the amount of people who go on diets. Any personal trainer, nutritionist or PE teacher will tell you that diets are not only extremely unhealthy but it will make you put on weight. Look at the amount of athletes who drink Gatoriade simply because TV says it gives a bonus. Gatorade type products only work if the exercise you are doing goes for longer than 90 minutes and then it has to be taken in the solution:1 part gatorade/3 parts water. If you dont the end result= chronic stomache cramps. Look at the degree of drug and alcohol abuse in our society. There are about a dozen people in america who tookm a dodgy designer drug and now has to spend the rest of their life in either a catotonic state or palsied whilst being haunted by hallucinations (usually of snakes). One of my friends is pretty heavy into drugs and this freaked him out something savage. Children need to know that all thse bad things that happen will happen to them. Itys far to common for teenagers to think they are invincible which leads gto the philosophy that "it will never happen to me". That is bullshit. How much of smoking starts with peer pressure? PE teaches kids techniques on how to deal with peer pressure. Running around an oval is not physical education. I know I personally found personal development programs at school very helpful. With the amount of STD's and teenage pregnancy going around do we really want to take this source of health information away? PE teaches life skills that every single person needs whether they are physically active or not. It doesnt get enough attention as it is.