Even though Hawaii's adults are ranked low, the youth of Hawaii are ranked twenty-ninth according to an article titled, "New national report on states' obesity rates says not so fat, Hawaii". The average percent of overweight children from ages 10-17 is 14.8 percent, the percent of overweight children in the same age group is 13.3 percent. That percentage has decreased from earlier reports, but obesity is still a growing problem in Hawaii's youth says health officials. Many believe the problem is the Physical Education programs in Hawaii's schools.
Currently, the Hawaii Department of Education has physical education standards that require students from kindergarten though the third grade to have 45 minutes per week of physical education, 55 minutes per week for grades four and five and there are no requirements for any physical education for middle school grades, while High school students in Hawaii are required to take some physical education at some point during their years in high school, says an article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
Hawaii's physical education requirements are fairly low compared to other states in the United States according to the 2006 Shape of the Nation Report. In that same report, Hawaii is ranked one of the 11 worst states when it comes to meeting physical education requirements in schools. Much of this is due to lack of physical education programs in Hawaii's schools. According to Donna Ede, only 50 percent have some sort of physical education program. That means about 95 public schools across the state of Hawaii do not have a physical education program.
Written in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin on May 6, 2006, physical education programs are lacking due to the No Child Left Behind law, which keep students engaged in a classroom atmosphere, making it hard for many teachers to incorporate P.E. during school hours. But, the state of Hawaii are changing many of their standards to start incorporating more physically fit students and youth.
In 2003, the state of Hawaii decreased the number of credits a student needed in social studies and physical education, in order to add requirements for language, arts, and/or vocational studies. In 2004, the state decided to keep P.E. requirements at one year instead of cutting it down to half a year. The change in amounts of credits needed, could result in an increase in obesity in Hawaii's youth. Therefore, Hawaii's Health Department created "Hawaii Physical Activity and Nutrition Plan" so both the adults and children of Hawaii become more physically fit and healthy. According to a study conducted by the Physical Activity and Nutrition Plan, only 30 percent of Hawaii high-school students meet federal guidelines for physical activity. This plan will help the residents of Hawaii, especially the youth, make giant steps toward a physically fit and educated state.
Some schools across the island have created programs that students run around a track and raise money for their school as well as creating awareness to being healthy and fit. Haha'ione Elementary School held it's first "Fun Run" in the month of August. The students of Haha'ione were educated for the first two weeks of August on the importance of physical fitness as well as health. On August 22, the school held a "Fun Run" so the children could raise money for their school by running around a track. Haha'ione Elementary raised over $10,000 from this event. On January 21, 2008 Ala Wai School is hosting a "Step It Up" Walkathon. These programs are a great way to encourage students to get up and get active, it involves physical activity and motivates the children to live healthy lives.
5 comments:
If you go to the HCPS (Hawaii Content and Performance Standards) website and select P.E. and health for elementary school students, it is interesting to see how broad the benchmarks are for teaching and assessing P.E. not only are the benchmarks broad in terms of what needs to be taught. It was amazing to see that the benchmarks are grouped by grades k-2 and 3-5. WOW. a Kindergardener is expected to know as much as a second grader?? and the teachers have to teach the same things every year. so the student will be taught the importance of exercise 3 times and be graded based on the same standards for all 3 years...
I think that the requirements for physical education in Hawaii's schools are not adequate. I feel that having less that an hour a week of physical education is not enough to have significant effects, although it is better than nothing. Also, if we are going to continue the no child left behind act, we might as well up the standard required for physical education verses having it become low on the teachers' priority list. And having kindergarten children learning the same things as second graders doesnt make sense. Where is the progress and growth?
I agree with the comment above. I think that we should definitely have more physical education in schools, especially Punahou. Even though PE was never my favorite thing to do it kept me physically fit, active, and gave me endorphins.
Lily~
It's true that I did exercise more often when I was younger compare to now, in high school. As we get older PE seems to take the back seat while classes like math, science, and english are more emphasized. Also while at Punahou our requirement is 2 credits, down from its previous 2.5 credits. Although it did drop, it’s still better than most public schools where the requirement is just 1 credit. Public school standards for PE are simply lower than private schools where they are allowed to adjust their requirements.
I guess a reason why there is only an hour of PE a week is because schools think recess is a time for the students to expell their energy. This is true, at punahou in elementry school i had a good hour of excercise everyday when i played football or baseball during recess. Although i may have been involved in some sort of physical activity, i am not recieving the education of how to be healthy. Schools should allow more time for the kids to be educated on how to live healthy lives in order to prevent the obesity problem in Hawaii.
~Patrick Dang
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