The History Behind Physical Education On The National Level

Physical education has long been a part of the United State’s curriculum. It was first put into use by Round Hill School in the 1820’s. It was originally intended for males; however, it was eventually revised to include female participation. In the late 1800’s, the American mentality of PE was focused on physical training and body development. However, the focus has since changed to providing students with a way to gain the knowledge, attitude, and skills that they need in order to maintain a healthy lifestyle. School has been contributed as a major setting for increasing physical activity in adolescents.

Educators have been faced with an opportunity cost of losing some academic class time if they were to enforce more PE class time. They’ve almost consistently chosen to prevent such a situation from happening. In doing so, the PE requirements have been continuously shrinking. It has been estimated that median active time for a high school student averages about 2 minutes a day, due to the fact that many high schools only require one or two years of PE. Since the 1990’s, the amount of physical activity from PE has been fairly inadequate. Despite this, nothing has been changed for the better. It has only gotten worse since then.

Despite educator’s efforts, the proportion of students that attended a PE class daily declined by a significant amount during 1991-1995. That proportion hasn’t changed during 1995-2003. To make matters even worse, only 39.2% of students were physically active during their PE classes. In fact, one study in a Texas county found that elementary students performed vigorous activity for only 3 minutes and 24 seconds out of a 40 minute class. Such statistics have helped contribute to the adolescent obesity rate that has tripled since the 1980’s, from 5% to 15% in 2000.

The lack of quality PE classes in public schools seems to have been a major reason for the increase in adolescent obesity. A growth in obesity comes with an increased rate in health problems, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and cancer. Consequently, this obviously comes with higher medical costs. Without a proper emphasis and education of physical health, the students are likely to continue living with unhealthy lifestyles.

Physical Edcuation just simply isn’t held with such a high regard in comparison to other classes. George Graham, a physical education professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, says:

“Principals know what good quality P.E. is, but they don't care about the total child. They care only about the child's head. Principals know they are judged on test scores, but is that ultimately in the best interest of youngsters?”

Eliminating PE is not a viable option. It’s likely that even by getting rid of PE, test scores won’t go up. The possible positives from removing PE from the curriculum simply don’t compare to the negatives. It would be foolish to carry on this way.