This past summer, the legislature had a choice to make in education. Those of us that coached UIL sports wanted the legislature to approve a switch allowing districts to give credit to athletes in all eight semesters of high school. Currently, students are only required to take three semesters of physical education. Instead, the state upped the requirements for science and math so that students have take both all four years of high school.
As a guidance counselor, the "four by four" as it is now called makes life easier. All students take English, Social Studies, Science, and Math all four years. It makes filling out a schedule easier and it since our math and science scores are pretty low in comparison with the rest of the world I can't help but think it was a good idea. On the other hand, I feel like we have lost something along the way.
When I was in sixth grade, I took regular PE for the last time. After that, I was always in an athletic PE class. In sixth grade we were required to run a mile and a half in a certain amount of time, do a certain number of situps, and do chin ups as well as a part of the Presidential Fitness Exam. Today's PE classes might as well institute the Fat Bastard fitness exam from Austin Powers. We'd probably have to bring out the AED and jaws of life for some students if we made them run half of a mile. A lot of high school PE classes consist of walking around the gym or sitting on the floor. That's because counselors and principals jam 50 or 60 kids in one PE class.
I understand why they do it. Most counselors aren't the athletic type. They want to make life as easy for the academic teachers as possible. So, we create a world where students can explain why diabetes happens and a world where they can calculate how much extra their health care costs will be for that diabetes, but we can't help them avoid getting diabetes. If it's not diabetes then it will be heart disease, stroke, or simply a lack of energy to get off of the sofa.
When I was in school, most of my friends and I played every sport that we could play in school. We did it because it was fun and free. You can't know how many times I wish I could go back out there and do that. Students that are active in athletics have higher self-esteems, are in better physical condition, and have a positive outlet for their energy. In other words, they make better students. I don't want to question the wisdom of the Texas Legislature, but I can't help but think we missed out on an opportunity to help our kids.
Imagine how much better the health care situation would be if we didn't have millions of obese people out there. We need universal health care, but we also need to take better care of ourselves. I know how important reading and writing is. Working in an elementary school, I see how vital the three r's really are. However, it's also vital that people be healthy enough to use those skills in a work setting. I'm tired of watching commercials with lawyers talking about how they can get you your social security benefits. Most of the people on those commercials not only look like they haven't skipped a meal, but they look like they discovered a new one between breakfast and brunch. We need to be a smarter country, but we also need to be a healthier one. Having more PE classes where students actually have to push themselves would be a start.
my youngest son is a high school senior and varsity basketball player at lee high school, an extremely underprivileged campus. we are struggling with a fundraising effort, just to get uniforms and shoes. last year my son was given a jersey xxl with a taped on number that fell off and required constant retaping. we had a piece of the gym floor fixed with duct tape, recently repaired with stimulus money and also we got safety pads intalled so the players no longer crash the wall during practice. the coach, goes so far above and beyond, he has paid tournamet fees out of his own pocket. my son carries a 3.80 GPA and tutors other players on saturday, hoping he can land a college scholarship. we play schools like bellaire who are decked out like the rockets, enjoy a very nice tax base and cash flow with professional parents able to garner steller resources. many of our players come from war torn countries and live with host or foster families, and since we have only 2 or 3 parents i give total props to the teachers who come to games, mentor and support school sports in schools like lee. the school sits in the shadow of the transco tower and the gallera, yet with the economy i find it very hard to get any community support. the high school sports channel does not respond to any requests to profile our talent because better known teams dominate their audience. i salute your committment to education and will take any advice you have to offer!
Actually, I just went to a seminar where the guy talked about different ways to run ISS and alternative schools. He suggested using basic calisthenics to get kids' brains going. So, the suggestion is not so crazy. However, doing PE at the beginning of the day just isn't feasible. Basically, my suggestions are these (high school and junior high level)
1) Move to block scheduling with nothing double blocked. Athletics will take place after school with only the in season sport using the court or field.
2) Mandate that PE coaches have a 25 to 1 ratio like regular teachers so that can do more interactive activities with the students.
3) Dictate that students have some minimal level of fitness to earn credit. That should be some mile time, numbers of situps, maybe some sort of a stress test. It shouldn't be too strenuous but everyone must be able to meet some minimal standard (some obvious exceptions for students with disabilities).
This is a radical idea, but the reason I get up in the morning and work out at the gym first thing is because if I don't, my mind is kind of foggy for the rest of the day and I'm tired. I wish they'd just make first period PE for all students. I know it's not possible with facilities and faculty availability, but if there was just some way to encourage students to exercise each morning, their academic performance would surely improve.
I think it's certainly possible that this could be the case. I think we should start by looking at our credit situation. Right now, students are required to have 24 credits. I think we should start looking at alternative scheduling. Block scheduling is not popular among teachers, but it is one way to get this done. Another suggestion (and my fellow coaches will hate it) is that all athletics could be done after school and not considered a class. Maybe then you could exempt those students from PE altogether. If you did that then you could alleviate some of the double blocking concerns that people in the industry have and yet create more classes that could include the four by four, arts, and regular PE.
As for year around school, I think it is a good idea, but I'm not sure it could alleviate these concerns if done correctly. Ideally, you would add some days to calendar (say from 180 to 200) and simply space out the off time. My fear is that people will want to go full board and simply take those ten weeks we have in the summer and add 40 days to the calendar. If you did that then you could run trimesters and get the credits in, but you would also risk student/teacher fatigue. If you removed an hour or two from the school day I would be in favor of adding 20 days to the school year. I think we would see scores go up, but I think alternative scheduling is the pathway to what I'm talking about.
Scott,
Do you think there would be time for all these good things if school were year 'round, maybe with shorter days, maybe not.
Would all these good things be addressed if all schools were Montessori schools?
Thanks.
I agree the arts are very important and I agree that the emotional side is more dominant than the rational side. I might add that girls are a lot less likely to get pregnant in school if they participate in athletics. It's hard to balance it all but the least we can do is force kids to do more.
I agree about the importance of the arts and am optimistic about studies that show that teaching math, for example, via an art curriculum is very effective.
And I'm happy that my twin 15-year-old nieces have played soccer for years and recently added a dance team to their activities. Research indicates that girls who play sports are less likely to get breast cancer as women.
I wish we, as a society, had more respect for bodily wisdom. We seem to gyrate among extremes, worshiping pro athletes one moment, then fixated by this month's sex symbol, while pretty much ignoring key aspects of our own physical selves.
At a seminar Thursday, a speaker said that humans are emotional beings pretending to be rational. (Clearly, those who oppose health care reform understand this.)
He said that our physical selves feed our brains way more data in a second than our rational consciousness ever could.
Very good points Scott. Correct me if I'm wrong but hasn't there been a big slash in educational programs as well concering the arts? What happened to music appreciation, theater, art, art history, etc? I don't hear much about those types of classes. Science, math are important but to truly have an appreciation of the fine arts, history and music are in my opinion, just as vital to a well rounded education ciriculum that should also include a good physical education.
No problem. I think I might be the only one in the group on SS and I stay active enough after my unfortunate affair that I don't consider myself one of them. (Down from 233 to 201 in 5 months)
I didn't think I resembled those people so I had no need to take offense, Scott.
In the interests of fairness and restraint, I apologize for the last line about the social security commercials. No excuses.
PE is especially important in this age of Xbox, Playstation and Wii. The kids don't do any sports after school so they need it during school.
Whatever, happened to sandlot baseball, football, etc. What a loss. I grew up with sandlot sports and loved every bit of it.
My elementary daughter has PE twice a week. Recess is a sub for PE now (teachers are instructed to make sure the kids are "active").
Still daily PE for my middle school son.
But my high school son? Required just 1.5 years of PE in 4 years. For 2010 the lege just reduced it to 1. As it happens, Kid plays football so it doesn't matter to him (except inasmuch as in order to do 4 years of football and 4 years of choir, he'll have to take a full credit in summer school every year to make space in the schedule).
I agree core academics are critical and should be the focus but knowing as we do that kids are more sedentary than ever, more prone to obesity and Type II diabetes than ever, why are we reducing their physical education at nearly every grade level? Add that in many kids' lives it's not safe for them to play outside at home and PE - in a safe and supervised place - becomes even more crucial to both their immediate and long-term health and well-being.