Best of Times or Worst of Times?

As I write this, less than a week has past since the November elections. Whether you live in a “Red” spot on the map or a “Blue” spot on the map, and regardless of who you voted for, there is no doubt that this election was important for physical educators across the entire country. I predict that the next few years will be key ones for physical education programs and teachers in US schools—and in many ways will define what physical education looks like in our schools, even determining if it will survive, or thrive. In some ways this is the best of times for P-12 physical education; in other ways, it can be considered the worst of times.

The value of regular physical activity has never been more widely recognized and accepted at any other time in our history. It is almost a “no brainer” to make a case that people of all ages and especially our children need more physical activity in their daily lives--and not just for the physiological benefits. We are now starting to see research evidence that regular, properly planned physical activity can contribute to one’s readiness to learn, cognitive development, and social/emotional growth. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has now identified obesity as the top threat to the health of the US population, and has started a number of programs and research projects to address what is now widely recognized as an epidemic. On a list of potential ways to reduce the rate of obesity in our children and youth, daily, quality physical education programs in schools was viewed as the third best intervention strategy we could deploy in this crisis—so our role is essential.

The US Department of Education has shown that it has heard the message by providing schools with over $170 million PEP Grants since 2001 to expand and improve physical education programs—with the highest priority on health-related fitness outcomes. Funding for the 2005-2006 school year and beyond is expected to be approved soon.

We have had national standards for school physical education programs since 1995. While these standards are not mandated in all states, they have provided a valuable starting point for describing the design, implementation, and outcomes of quality physical education programs around the county. We now have a better idea of what “it” looks like, and common set of standards to tell our story with.

There are surely more examples, trends, and policies to point to, but there is no doubt that the word is out—physical education programs can be one of the key weapons in our nation’s fight against obesity, and that message is being heard by parents, administrators, politicians, and the entire medical community. In that way, it is the best of times, because physical educators are welcomed and valued as participants in addressing this critical need area. We now enter the debate about the importance of physical education in children’s lives through the front door, and are people listening.

But, the positive messages about physical education come at the same time real threats are being made to the continuation of school programs across the country. And, some of those threats come from the very people who acknowledge the importance of physical education in children’s lives. The Bush administration now includes the PEP Grants under the federal No Child Left Behind (NCLB) legislation, while at the same time it forces state and local educational policy makers into decisions in the name of academic accountability that reduce and sometimes eliminate the time for physical education in the school day. For example, in my home state of Georgia, the Governor at the time NCLB was passed, immediately proposed to improve test scores in middle schools by increasing the amount of time given to core subjects, and got the legislature to change physical education from a required subject to an elective. Over one-third of the school districts in the state reduced their middle school physical education programs the very next year. Because physical education is not required for middle schools, districts lose the state’s financial support for those teaching positions, so those teachers and their programs are increasingly at risk for reduction and/or elimination, particularly in poor rural districts—which, of course, have the highest rates of obesity in the state.

Physical education has always been a marginalized subject in US schools, and for many decades lived with that realization. Now, physical education is being threatened to be taken right off the page itself! I am not going to lead you into a debate about whether the proverbial glass is half-full or half-empty. In many ways, it is both—the “PE message” and what we do is more important to the welfare of our school-aged population than ever before, and that is being acknowledged by more and more people each day. But others, including some who make state and federal policies, would have physical education reduced or eliminated from the school day—leaving us unable to put our message into action that can, in some part, help the children of this country to fight the obesity epidemic and lead longer, healthier lives.

I see the next few years as critical to the survival of school physical education programs. In some ways we are running a race—trying to show that children can and do receive many benefits from daily quality physical education, before the clock runs out on us in the school day. So, the time is now to ask all physical educators to take a close look at their programs and to hold those programs to a level of accountability expected of other subjects in the curriculum, to show that we can make a positive difference in the lives of children—before we are left with nothing but a great message, and no place to take it.

Mike Metzler