Improving The Public On The Importance Of Nutritional Meals And Physical Activity

Almost all students in the United States have had that dreaded Physical education class. With all of the hard work done in a regular day for a student, they need to get out energy at some point. I propose that Hudson City Schools should keep the now standing PE program instead of forcing kids to do a sport every year in school because it improves test scores, promotes overall health, and because it includes many different sports instead of just one.

Implementing physical education as early as elementary should give children time to get used to P.E. and hopefully help them have a great mindset for working out and staying fit. “School setting offers opportunities to enjoy physical activity outside of class, including recess periods for unstructured play in elementary schools, after-school programs, intramural sports programs, and physical activity clubs.” (Wechsler 6) This quote states that offering multiple recreational physical activities while disguising it as something fun, gives children an intriguing sense on P.E. “Well-implemented school programs can effectively promote physical activity.” (Wechsler 3) This quote states that physical education programs in schools are for students to stay healthy and to get them active. It is the educator's responsibility to keep every student on track with their participation. If students do not participate it is certain they will lose their grade in that

When adults think of physical education they think of going to work out in a gym, running on a treadmill or even lifting weights. But for kids, it means playing and being physically active. The most common time that kids exercise is during the time that they have gym class or during recess. Unfortunately, over the recent years the time that kids should exercise has been either decreased or physical education has been cut completely. Physical education helps with promoting student’s general health so when they get older it is implanted in their brains on how

Gym class was my favorite part of the day in elementary school; I could run around and climb a rope all the way till I touched the ceiling. I have never had a bad memory in gym, though so many think it’s pointless and haven’t had the same experiences. Health is not just the schools responsibility but the communities as well; many people say they don’t want to climb a rope and see if they can touch the ceiling. They feel embarrassed that they won’t be able to climb it at all; physical education helps with stress, it shouldn’t create it. PE should be seen to help student’s run around and let out energy; so many schools have PE class for every other day and for a short period of time. Many students see PE as useless; a lot of people in my PE classes skipped, or pretended to be sick. Students need to learn how important PE is; this can be done if the community gets involved with physical education as well; to learn that PE helps kids push themselves to reach to the top. Physical education is important for every student; it helps physically, mentally, and encourages team work not just with the children but the whole community itself.

There are only six states in the United States that require physical education in every grade, K-12 (National Association for Sport and Physical Education & American Heart Association, 2012). Those states include Illinois, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Mississippi, New York, and Vermont. The other 44 states either allow some form of waiver, exemption, or substitution from physical education classes or do not require physical education in every grade. By allowing waivers, exemptions, and substitutions, students are not meeting the national requirements for physical activity because their activity time is cut. The national recommendation for physical activity of school-aged children is 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity per day (“Opposing Substitution and Waiver/Exemptions,” 2006, para. 3). It is estimated that 40% of children ages 18-24 do not get the recommended daily amount of exercise (Mears, 2010, para. 7). The lack of physical activity has led to growing obesity rates in the United States and there is an even bigger need for students to learn the knowledge and skills associated with living a healthy

P.E can have positive effects on children emotional, social, and physical being. According to the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, school PE programs should require both fitness and cognitive assessments. In addition to participating in physical activity, students in PE learn the fundamentals of a healthful lifestyle, the building blocks upon which they can develop into healthy, knowledgeable adults. Getting the recommended amount of exercise combats obesity, which subsequently reduces the risk for diabetes, heart disease, asthma, sleep disorders and other illnesses. Regular exercise also contributes to cardiovascular health and promotes muscle and bone

Kirk Disrude, a volunteer for the American Heart Association, stated this about a child’s physical education, “Ensuring that quality physical education is implemented across our country is a lifesaving measure for the youth of our country. Now is the time to invest in physical education. We need to improve both health and (the) well-being of our youth and their overall cognitive functioning (SOURCE #2).” This quote should stand out to us as a nation. Major issues in this nation include cancer, drugs, violence, pollution, global warming, and conflicts with other nations, but one of the hottest problems that sticks out in the United States is known as obesity. Obesity is defined as someone who is overweight. This is not the only problem with obesity. From 1971 to 2011, the obesity in children has tripled and that concerns parents as that is the number one health concern to them. For that reason, kids see themselves with a negative body and have low self-esteem.(SOURCE #6). Kids also become obese by not acquiring the exercise they need because many schools do not offer the classes or at home. Only 3.8% of elementary schools, 7.9% of middle schools, and 2.1% of high school offer a physical education class. In addition to this, 22% of the United States schools do not offer a physical education class at all.(SOURCE #2) Those numbers should not that be low. The schools should not be shooting down physical education instead schools should encourage its students to go out and play for the full hour. Even at home, 61.5% of kids between the ages of nine through thirteen do not participate in any physical activity with an organization and 22.6% of them do not play in any organization as school is not in session (SOURCE#7). Many benefits of exercising or doing a physical activity include decreasing the chance of having type two diabetes, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels, and having stronger muscles and bones (SOURCE #1). The rate of obesity for kids has risen the past couple of years; however, that can change when children should and need to receive at least one hour of exercise a day every day.

Incorporating physical activity for students every day is important for many reasons. Physical activity promotes emotional and mental health benefits. It also decreases the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Health and educational professionals agree that physically active students perform better in the classroom. One study found a statistically significant relationship between fitness and academic achievement (Chomitz, Slining, McGowan, Mitchell, Dawson, & Hacker, 2009). Agencies, political leaders, and organizations are beginning to see how important regular physical activity is for children and adolescents

Physical Education is becoming a “special,” along with art, music and other valuable classes that many school districts have decided are not important enough to schedule daily. As a result, America’s children spend most of their school hours sitting still. The lack of physical activity, coupled with overeating, has led to an increase in childhood obesity.

In this news article, physical education (PE) cuts across America are brought to light, and many professionals are interviewed where their knowledge of the subject is shared. A professional, interviewed by Bader stated, “There is a link between physical activity, brain development and achievement. We're using this fact to push for returning physical activity to schools.” There is a substantial number of interviews, facts, and news found within this article which is why I think it is beneficial to my paper.

In recent times the goal of education has become focused on standardized testing and other forms of academic assessment. Due to this new focus classes involving the arts and physical education have been cut drastically in order to make more time for traditional subjects like math and science. A New York Times article which focused on the ever growing trend of cutting physical education classes quoted a teacher, “There is shrinking P.E. and recess time for our kids, P.E. teachers are fighting like cats and dogs to hold the line on their jobs and worth, at the same time as there is a dawning awareness that we have missed the boat.” Many studies have shown that increasing time in the classroom and decreasing time that students have to be physical activity is having the opposite of the desired affect. Physical Education should be treated as a core subject and required in schools daily.

Physical education is or should become incorporated in schools more due to lack of inactivity. It has proven to help in preventing obesity amongst the children and teens when physical education was added in the learning curriculum. As it was proven by “physical activity across the curriculum (PAAC) it has shown promise in weight management” (Gibson, et al, 2008). PAAC evaluated “4905 children from 24 schools” for a year by helping teachers involving physical activity in their teaching lessons to better help in improving, and teaching kids about being active. The PAAC helped teachers create lesson plans with physical activities during breaks and make other lesson plans a bit more fun than just the regular routine. During the time, that PAAC was helping with the lesson plans it was shown, that teachers had increased physical activity from “47 minutes to 65 minutes” as well as helped with behavioral issues some students might have or fidgeting plus it made them more focused and alert which the teachers loved. Still

The ethical debate throughout the United States is whether or not schools provide physical education programs. In the state of Kansas, school districts are not required to comply with the physical education standards, therefore, the time committed to physical education in schools during the week is wide-ranging. Evidence shows that physical education programs combat obesity, stimulates brain development, increases academic performance, creates healthy lifestyles in children which is associated with a decrease in future health care costs. Oppositions to providing physical education programs include school districts have the autonomy to decide what standards to follow and funding priorities are needed elsewhere. To facilitate change in the lack of physical education in schools, the school districts in the state of Kansas must comply with the state standards for physical education. To accomplish this, the state should specify standards more clearly, provide more funding to physical education, and support with more education regarding the benefits of this change to the school districts.

Thesis: There are coexisting links between physical education in a school environment and the rising health concerns of our society.

According to WebMD, “One third of children in the U. S. is overweight or obese, and this number is continuing to rise” (“Obesity in Children” 1). This is alarming because these children may grow up with a higher risk of chronic diseases, such as diabetes and heart problems. With such a concern and threat to our society in this country, many schools today offer physical education as part of their curriculum. However, most schools only require students to take physical education once or twice throughout their middle school or high school years, and this is not a mandatory subject to take every semester and school year. Some students may have the perception that physical education is simply an extra class for them to have fun or take a break between classes. However, research proves that physical exercise plays a significant role to the success of a student because it provides many benefits in the areas of physical, social and mental health development. Because of these benefits, physical education should be offered as a mandatory subject throughout the seven years of middle school and high school, so that daily physical activities will become a part of the routine of students’ life and thus carry into their adulthood.