Samantha Cleaver’s article titled “Is Your Child Getting Enough Physical Education?” addresses America’s past and previous issues regarding obesity. In addition, she also brings up the fact our country is overlooking the real reason as to why obesity is still a problem if children are required to take physical education classes. Cleaver explains that “only 4 percent of elementary schools, 7 percent middle schools, and 2 percent of high schools provide daily physical education classes for the entire year” (Cleaver, 2008) . Furthermore, Cleaver brings to our attention that America should take into consideration the small amount of physical education students are receiving, and the amount of time they are being active in the classroom. She …show more content…
A study done at the American College of Sports Medicine reported that “fourth and fifth grade students who ran around and otherwise exercised vigorously for at least 10 minutes before a math test scored higher than children who sat quietly before an exam.” Physical activity is said to improve much more than physical health, and is known for the improving one’s memory and focus. Another article mentioned that physically active students tend to outperform their peers in the classroom who are not active. The article also mentions that “physically active students have larger brain volumes in the basal ganglia and hippocampus, areas associated with cognitive control and memory (Medical News, 1).” Exercise has been known to help students concentrate better in their classes, and accomplish their homework later …show more content…
Majority of these people also happen to be the one’s who do not engage in physical activity and do not consider their health a top priority. These individuals have the preconceived idea that students should be spending more time in classes, such as, math, science, literacy, and history. These individuals basically assume that these are the only classes that matter and are going to help children with their future career. The people who do not support physical education are oblivious to all the beneficial skills that this class teaches children. Additionally, some parents think that physical education activities can be done outside of school, and that students will become too exhausted to concentrate on schoolwork. An article titled “The Pros and Cons of Mandatory Gym Classes in Public Schools”, expresses that a large amount of physical education programs are not benefiting students because they are unorganized(Mueller, 1). This leads students and adults to believe that they would almost be better off without physical education class, and given more time for other studies. Furthermore, the article mentioned that students who spent more time being active in gym class, were less likely to be active after school. This worries parents because they might be paying an excessive
The book begins by explaining how important exercise and being active is to our health and well-being. The author then transitions into a story about Naperville Central High School. This high school was in the forefront of a revolutionary new concept that involved vigorous exercise of its students instead of a traditional gym class. This new approach stimulated new research on the brain, and the effects of exercise on the well being of our body and minds. After the introduction of the new fitness programs, the school’s students showed drastic increases in standardized tests, and on normal tests as well.
Who doesn’t want to have to do exercise? Everybody needs exercise to be in good health, but some people don’t like to exercise. They just want to stay inside and do nothing in life. Even though people don’t want to exercise all the time they could have a treadmill or a bike to exercise on instead of going outside and running or play basketball with friends just to lose weight. Sometimes students get lazy after work or school and don’t want to go outside and enjoy the nice weather. Although for students they have to exercise because they have to stay in shape for sports, but if the school is trying to take away interscholastic
other hand, obesity accounts for about 13 percent of children in the United States, which is why physical education programs should be one of the last things to go. They also help students release the stress they have built up through out the day and teach them the ...
This paper examines the issues associated to the disengagement of students in the health and physical education domain. Typically traditional curriculums have shown to foster anxiety and create undesirable competition amongst students through fitness testing. It is critical to understand the reasons behind the issues of why students are disengaging in the participation of physical education, as the sedentary behavior is becoming a major factor in the obesity epidemic.
Physical activity helps boost cognitive abilities in children. Recess generally involves a lot of running, playing, and games involving exercise. In fact, recent research has found a direct correlation between intelligence and physical fitness, especially in children under 16 years old and elderly persons (Pica 64). In a study conducted by F. L. Martens, academic scores, attitudes, and fitness were improved when a third of the school day was dedicated to recess. Another study study found that at least five hours of physical activity resulted in substantially higher academic achievement in the core subjects (Pica 63).
For the first time in years, schools are considering imposing an extra mandatory class on students with the hopes of solving a deadly problem; however, it could be causing more problems rather than diminishing it. A statistic recently released by the Kaiser Family Foundation, has stated that in America, 31.3% of 10-17 year olds are either obese or overweight. To combat this issue, The President’s Council on Physical Fitness has introduced a proposal that would require every high school in the United States to have a daily and mandatory physical education class in order to promote healthy lifestyle choices. Very few states require P.E. daily for high school students; however, many states are considering adopting the proposal. Doing so seemed like a great way to combat the growing problem until I thoroughly researched the topic and found that the negatives outweighed the possible positives. Calvin Christian adopting the proposal created by the President’s Council on Physical Fitness regarding mandatory daily P.E. classes would be a huge mistake due to the negative effect on student’s physical and emotional health, the likelihood of an increased budget, and the possible cut of valued classes.
Exercise doesn’t only helps an individuals' physical health, it likewise helps their mental aptitude, which can help them improve in school. Studies demonstrate that high schoolers who do cardiovascular exercise - like running and swimming - have bigger brains (Henshaw 3). One school study has indicated that 30 minutes of strolling on a treadmill enhanced learners' critical thinking abilities by 10% (Henshaw 6). That is a whole letter grade, so the effect is clearly not minut.
Everyone knows that being fit is great for physical health, but did you know it also contributes to your cognitive state? Several studies have shown that fitter children do better in school compared to their not as fit peers. In a study done by “Frontiers in Human Neuroscience” they found that children that participate in regular physical activity do better in school. The study states, “Aerobic fitness plays an important role in brain health of children...Such that highly-fit children have been shown to outperform their lower-fit peers…” Recess
Whitman, Nate. "Physical Activity in Schools Is Essential to Reversing Childhood Obesity." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 21 Oct. 2013.
Proponents of physical education often contend their case with these and other similar arguments, but upon closer examination of the physical education system, its true use and effectiveness are highly questionable. Those who argue that physical education is integral to the nation’s health must reexamine the nation in which we live, a nation in which more than one-third of adults are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Pennsylvanian legislation has mandated physical education since 1999, but since 1999, the adult obesity rate has risen by 11%. Regardless of the proponents’ claims, physical education is not having its intended effect on public health. (Note: I am not trying to suggest that physical education is deleterious to public health. I am just showing that physical education has done a negligible job promoting health). Furthermore, physical education consumes an entire class period of a student’s day, a class period which could be spent learning one of many highly important, pertinent 21st century subjects that the Common Core has inexplicably ignored: micro and macro economics, U.S.
Opponents of physical education in schools state that gym is not the best way to utilize students’ time. Students’ should be given the choice to participate in gym class or not because many students aren’t as athletic and don’t enjoy it enough to want to do it in school. Despite this downfall, PE is important in students’ life and even though some don’t enjoy it as much, they need it in order to be successful in life. If not, diseases and health risks could come up and it wouldn’t be robust. Ultimately, physical education provides superior benefits.
Opposition of mandatory Physical Education in high schools believe that if a student has not developed a desire for voluntary physical exercise by the time he or she reaches high school , he or she may not ever (Eberhardt). It is true that individuals should not be forced into something they don’t want to participate in, but if these students don’t get any exercise outside of school, where will they receive an appropriate amount of fitness? Paul Eberhardt, athletic director, intramural director and head coach of the McNair Marlins basketball team in Richmond, B.C., believes “that students don’t care about participating in P.E. anymore and we have to educate students on the benefits of Physical Education”. In the 1994-1995 school year there were 1,133 students enrolled at McNair High School but there were only four P.E. classes available, which meant approximately 120 students attended in these classes. The remaining 1013 grade eleven and twelve students had no Physical Education at all. This is an astonishing figure. “Many students participate in sports and recreation activities outside of school, but most of them get hardly any exercise at all.
For most children growing up, school can often be the first place that a students are introduced to physical equipment and personalized time set apart for them to work out. I like, many other student in high school, was given physical education class. The experience in class was not only a bonding experience between my friends and I. Yet also a chance for me to work on my physical fitness. Unlike my other class I was able to jump and run, stretching not only imagination and my limbs. In schools today students
One out of every three children in America are considered obese or overweight (“Overweight”). America is at a point to where people want everything easy and fast. Last year, McDonald’s served 69 million customers a day (“Our Story”). These people are at home watching TV on their couches and eating this fast food. I think this is a huge factor to why obesity is at a high. The lack of exercise is a global pandemic. Only three out of ten Americans exercise regularly (“Information”). But for many students, the only exercise they may get is at school in a PE class. I feel like PE is a great class, but gets overlooked as a waste of time. The importance of teaching physical education is taken for granted. We can attain healthy habits, get exercise, and have fun while doing it. I believe physical education classes should be maintained and emphasized more than they are now. Most people view it as just an easy class but in reality, it could benefit our generation in the long run, and help make for a healthier future.
Many students believe they are in school to learn education from core subjects like math, english, social science, and science and not a gym class. A study was performed to observe students ' motivational factor behind participating in a physical education class. The negative responses in this study included students saying " 'I take part in this PE class...Because I 'll get in trouble if I don 't...But I don 't see what I get out of PE '"(Taylor et al ). Many students believe they will be better off not having taken that class at all because they are either already involved in sports or simply would want to focus mainly on their core classes rather than physical education. And even if students are present in this class, a study done in Texas schools showed that the majority of the students spent time not doing much (Chen). The data specifically showed "that students were only engaging in exercise or movement for approximately 3 minutes during the entire class period."(Chen). Furthermore, a study done by Cornell university showed when 200 extra minutes were added the to the class, boys only participated in around 7.5 minutes of more activity per day whereas girls only participated in around 8 more minutes per week (Chen). This change displays the fact that many students are simply not interested in participating in any physical activity. For some