Schools that eliminate PE are shortchanging kids
STL Today Editor,
Most schools pride themselves on having the best interest of their students at heart; but do they really? In recent years childhood and adolescent obesity has gone up to 33%. This raises the question of the efectivness of recent wellness programs in schools. Having gone to a school with a wellness program, I watched my favorite snacks taken out of the vending machines and yet the obesity problems remain at large. One major contributor to obesity is the amount of stress put on the students paired with a lack of exercise. Iʼve recently studied the effects of stress on people and how much exercise can help. About 20 minutes of exercise is said to be needed each day to stay healthy, but the majority of high school students are lucky to get that once a week and elementary recess time is only 10-15 minutes. An inexpensive solution could be to increase the amount of time students spend exercising. Instead of taking away snacks, high school students may have a 20 minute period in each day simply walking a track or gym, and recess could be lengthened by 5-10 minutes in elementary schools. These, of course, would lengthen the school day but itʼs a small price compared to the hardships children and families face because of obesity. Exercise is a proven way to decrease obesity and improve health, our schools just need to take advantage of it.
Mallory Norval
St. Louis County
Mallory, do you really think that these kids are fat because they don’t exercise at school? Don’t get me wrong, it couldn’t hurt but please don’t blame obesity on schools. How about the diet that the parents are giving them? How about the lack of parenting by allowing their kids to sit in front of a monitor all the time at home? So many don’t demand that the kids exercise at home so let’s put blame where blame belongs.
The schools can’t even teach the basics to begin with. They spend so much time teaching crap like global warming, I’m sorry, I mean climate change. I forgot global warming wasnt working so they changed it to climate change. Anyway, I wouldnt put a lot of faith in the current school system that spends entirely too much money for so little return.
We as taxpayers are forced to pay for government schools. So, parents of private schools and homes schoolers are forced to pay the taxes and pay on top of taxes for non-government school education. What a joke. A friend of mine who is principle of a private school is worried that his school will close because some of the parents cannot afford the taxes and the private school fees. How sad!
I totally agree with Mallory. Superdave’s “taxpayer” whining is irrelevant.
If we care about our children, let’s do our best by them. If you don’t like taxes, move to Costa Rica, okay, superdave? I am sure your children, if you have any, will appreciate the change of scenery.
Otherwise, please stop with the tearing down of wonderful ideas like Mallory’s. Some people are not home with their kids to monitor their eating habits–they work a lot longer and a lot harder than others to keep any food at all on their tables. So please, spare us the parental lectures. Of course we all need to work together on this problem, but kids won’t change their attitudes and minds about snacks and junk food until policy at school reflects the right approach. Peer pressure is the greatest tool at our disposal. If your best buddy is eating carrot sticks instead of a candy bar, chances are, you’re more likely to think twice.
Mallory’s comments about cutting PE classes and the amount of stress children are under are not only valid, they are brilliant. If kids are not allowed to roam outside much anymore, due to understandable parental fear, the next best option would be organized exercise at school. Way to go, Mallory! You’ve got a good head on your shoulders.
I’m with Mallory. Schools need to stress phys ed, not drop it or short-change it.
Some sports need to be deemphasized (like football, even though I’m a huge fan of the sport) to allow time for the teaching of lifetime sports and fitness activities, like jogging, golf, hiking (which could be paired with a geology or science class), tennis, aerobics, etc.
We would raise kids to live longer and more productive lives, cut down on our huge national medical bill, and have a healthier population.
Parents are responsible for their children.
Parents are responsible for their children.
Parents are responsible for their children.
If your kids are overweight, hire a personal trainer or buy a treadmill instead of a PS3.
Schools teach kids useless things they forget and never use again. We spend twice the money we did 30 years ago for the same results.
Also, do you guys really believe government schooling beyond 4th grade reading and arithmetic assists more than 5% of people with their current job?
Sorry to disappoint, but I come down with Superdave (at least the gist of his post) on this issue. Despite the virtues of a solid physical exercise regimen, the primary function of public schools is to educate our children. There are other facilities that go unused (the YMCA, public parks) to attend to the needs of their physical well-being. I have seen too many all-star running backs and left guards who enjoy full scholarships and perks, despite the fact that they cannot write their name or read a map or perform rudimentary math skills, to think we need greater emphasis on physical prowess. The reason little Johnny has a butt like a bus is because his mother feeds him an entire sheet cake for breakfast every morning, because she lacks the time, the knowledge, or the inclination to provide something more nutritious. Little Johnny then must walk the four steps to the school bus waiting in the driveway, to chauffeur him the front door of the school two blocks away. At the end of the day, he is driven back to his front door where he has been instructed not to leave the house until mother gets home (at about 10:30 PM). He can’t go to the park–too many drug addicts, he can’t go to the community center–too many homos, he can’t go anywhere. He consoles himself with a daily 2 pound bag of Doritos, while improving his mind with thirty year old reruns of “Gilligan’s Island,” and “Judge Judy.” Follow this routine for ten or fifteen years and see what your backside looks like. The problem is societal, not educational.
Is phys ed at school AND at home an either/or proposition? Why?
Is an education meant to just to teach certain facts, as opposed to teaching one HOW TO THINK?
An elementary and secondary education should teach one how to think and reason. Learning the multiplication tables is great, but learning how to tackle complex problems logically is what life is all about.
Hopefully, learning is a life long process and won’t end the minute one gets the degree or diploma.
Mallory has some valid points,as do several others. I wonder how much lack of exercise may be contributing to the increase in ADHD diagnoses we seem to be hearing more about these days. Not to say that some of them aren’t real, but certainly lack of exercise in a high-energy child can contribute to the fidgets and lack of focus in at least some kids.My sister always referred to it as a child being “busy”, and I know from training dogs and horses that if they are too wound-up from lack of exercise,especially the youngsters, they don’t learn squat in a training session. Sounds like a case of penny-wise and pound-foolish.Saving the time by not exercising the kids can be making them harder to teach,as they have a hard time focusing.Absolutely, parents have a stake in this, too, but everyone has a different set of circumstances to deal with, especially financially. It is hard to say what might work to alleviate this problem, but obviously what has been done hasn’t worked,so maybe it is time for a change.Taking junk food out of the schools doesn’t stop the problem if the parents give them a steady diet of junk food at home, but that is not something that can really be regulated,is it? Kids learn a lot more from what they see around them than whatever they are told,which is why this is such a difficult problem to solve.
Surprisingly I find myself in agreement with superdave up to the point where the Limbaugh EIB jingle came on the radio and he tranced off into the ditto head crap about climate change. With the fast food, processed diet these kids are served, 45 minutes of walking around the school track is not going to help. And that 1 hour of soccer twice a week isn’t doing it either. Sorry parents but your answer is to take control of your kid’s diet. Be an adult, take responsibilty and say no to the chips, sodas and pizzas. Yes this might mean that mom or dad might have to actually fix a meal instead of calling Fortell’s, but that’s your responsibility isn’t it?
Newsweek just posted an article on MSN entitled “Like Parent, Like Child”,about how the lifestyle and diet choices adults make don’t just affect them.It says that kids begin to mimic their parents’ food choices as early as 2 years old.I’d provide a link, but my computer skills don’t extend that far yet.Pretty scary stuff, but it reinforces some of what I already suspected as far as kids reflecting their environment, for better or worse.As far as not being able to control your child’s eating habits, if you don’t have it in the house, they will have a harder time getting it.Not that they won’t hit Grandma up for snacks, but it will make it harder to pig out on chips or cookies after school.