Physical Education in Schools Really?

If you are a parent or work in K-12 education, you probably know the realities of PE and sports in schools; or the lack of it I should say. My time as a substitute PE teacher in K-12 education personally taught me a lot about this issue.

Forget about obesity for a moment, (yes we know that is a national problem). Numerous studies have demonstrated the positive effects of physical education and physical activity on school performance. Quite a few studies have stated that providing increased time for physical activity can lead to better concentration, reduced disruptive behaviors and higher test scores in reading, math and writing (Satcher, 2005).

For a country that loves sports so much, why do we not provide more of it at an earlier age to all of our students? Why are parents, (myself included) forced to give up weekends and evenings to drag their kids all over the place to play sports (and we pay a lot of money). What happens to those parents who lack transportation and funding to provide this necessary extracurricular activity for their kids? Is sports and PE now for the privileged few?

When school budgets are cut every year, one of the first things to go besides music and the arts is sports. Could this be why we seem to be seeing increasing numbers of ADHD and kids acting out in school?

There needs to be balance in life, and it is common knowledge (or it should be) that the mind and body both need to nourished. When the mind and body are in balance then so are we.

We are currently out of balance in K-12 education; perhaps we should do something about it?

Dr Flavius A B Akerele III

The ETeam