COLLIER COUNTY, FLORIDA - Golden Gate High School teacher Sue Canterbury stands in front of her personal fitness class and asks students why their heart rates spiked when they ran a 40-yard dash.
“Because it’s anaerobic (exercise),” said one student.
“Yes,” she exclaims, twirling around in a circle. “That is exactly the answer I was looking for.”
The class needs to discuss a quiz they took, but some of the students are too anxious. They want to get out into the gym.
Canterbury lets them go. It is a victory that her students want to do something active.
“By the time I get these kids, their habits are formed,” she said. “As a physical education teacher, I want them to have something they can do for the rest of their lives.”
For Collier County students, as well as students around the nation, physical exercise in the form of gym classes are becoming something of a rarity.
The 2006 Shape of the Nation report, which is conducted jointly by the American Heart Association and the National Association for Sport and Physical Education, concluded that most states are failing to provide students with adequate physical education requirements.
The percentage of students attending daily physical education class dropped from 42 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2003, according to the report.
The report also speaks to a rise in obesity rates. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that the number of kids considered overweight has more than tripled since 1980, and that more than 9 million kids between ages 6 and 19 are considered overweight.
Florida has no state mandate for physical education in elementary or in middle school, according to the report. There is a mandatory semester of high school physical education, but it doesn’t specify the grade or year of participation.
The state does grant waivers to school districts regarding education time and credit requirements, allowing schools to permit students to take personal fitness classes online, or substitute interscholastic sports, ROTC and marching band for a physical education credit.
“What responsibility does the education system have to the fitness of these kids? It seems like they are taking less and less responsibility with the waivers,” Canterbury said.
Deb Ogden, the physical education coordinator for the Collier County School District, said the state requirements are the same as they were when she came to the district 18 years ago.
“They’re weak,” she said. “I was shocked when I arrived here and heard what the requirements are. I’m from New Jersey and they require you to take PE every day.”
According to the 2006 Shape of the Nation report, New Jersey requires students in grades one to 12 to take physical education and requires that high school students take 3¾ credits to graduate.
Still, some Collier County students said they thought they were getting enough physical education.
“I think it is perfect. It is right on point,” said Harold Delavega, a 17-year-old junior. “I feel like I have the opportunity to take as much PE as I want.”
Ogden said she has seen a push away from physical education in the past 10 to 15 years.
“There is state-required PE in high school, and in middle school and elementary school it is highly suggested, but not recommended,” she said.
Collier County elementary school students receive 90 minutes of physical education each week, according to Ogden.
Canterbury said she would like to see more emphasis placed on the elementary and middle school levels.
“If you don’t get them in elementary school, they are not going to have the basic motor skills to do the activities,” she said.
In middle school, physical education is an elective.
“There is encouragement for them to take PE, but sometimes the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment test) forces them to take a double block of reading and they just can’t fit it into their schedules,” she said.
Canterbury said several students have been removed from her classes to get extra help with reading or other academics. There is no question that the federal No Child Left Behind Act also has affected the schools.
“I have already had schedule changes this year,” she said.
The No Child Left Behind Act is President George W. Bush’s education law, which requires almost all students to test at their grade level for math and reading. Schools that don’t measure up to the standards two years in a row have to provide more tutoring or let students transfer to better schools.
In high school, students have to take 1½ credits of physical education and health. That translates to a personal fitness class, which is spent half in the classroom and half in the gym; a health class, which is all classroom work; and one elective, which could be anything from aerobics to weight training, Canterbury said.
Canterbury said one of the biggest eye-openers for students is a body composition assessment, where a student’s body fat is measured at the beginning of class and again at the end.
“I have these kids from August to October. They are evaluated at the beginning and the end. In between, we do circuit training and other things. We retest them at the end so they can see the improvement,” she said. “We want them to see that if they adopt a healthy lifestyle, they will do better in school.”
© 2006 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.
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BLOGGER RESPONSES
Posted by AnnaNimity (anonymous) at 9:02 a.m. on September 10, 2006
In middle school, my kids had to choose music or PE. How does one decide which is more important?
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Posted by jmpmem (anonymous) at 9:15 a.m. on September 10, 2006
Good Point!
What about kids who don't pass FCAT reading? We force them to take more reading courses and no PE or other electives at all.
FCAT reigns supreme over all else. Hopefully parents will start to rebel against the test regime. Kids need PE, music, art and media as much as they need reading and math.
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Posted by littleman (anonymous) at 11:33 a.m. on September 10, 2006
Very sad at how the educational community overlooks the importance of health and PE. Kids lead a sedentary lifestyle, are over weight in record numbers. Parents no longer cook nutritious foods as they are too busy, so they throw something in the microwave or go to the drive-thru and feed thier kids foods packed with perservatives.
You would think legislation and the educational community would see the negative effects this and fututre generations will have. You think the healthcare system is drained now?? Wait unitl we have to start taking care of these unhealthy kids. What good is passing the FCAT if your dead at 40 from a heart attack??
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Posted by USNavyVet (anonymous) at 12:06 p.m. on September 10, 2006
At the rate the schools are dropping health/PE oriented classes and redirecting all resources to FCAT teaching we will start seeing 300lb. elementary & middleschool children with genius Intelligence. We can't let this happen to our youth and it needs to be resolved NOW!!! Increase the school day hours to allow a happy medium between healthy body training & education. The term "a well rounded education" was not meant to mean "Fat & Smart".
