One of my favorite lines is, “If we led the world in illiteracy because we didn’t teach reading in our public school, would anyone be surprised?”
The tagline goes, “Well, we lead the world in childhood obesity in large measure because we don't teach daily, quality physical education and no one—not parents, not teachers, not boards of education, not the enlightened ones in our state and federal departments of education—even raise an eyebrow (with a few notable exceptions).”
A report in the July 6 issue of Science Daily “finds” (as if it were ever hidden) that six states mandate the appropriate physical education guidelines. Only six, for God's sake!
Only two states mandate the appropriate amount of P.E. instruction for middle schools and none—zero, zip—require adequate P.E. at the high school level. These results were originally published in the June issue of the Journal of Teaching Physical Education. Do you think they could be on to something here? But this IS NOT NEWS! It has been this bad, or close to it, for decades.
Childhood obesity is a symptom of pitiful, myopic educational leadership … Even worse are parents, local school boards and the physical education profession itself.
Folks, the old coach has been banging the lid on this one for 50 years. What are we thinking?
Childhood obesity is a symptom of pitiful, myopic educational leadership. Federal and state departments of health and education are totally derelict in their duties. They wrestle with the cost of sickness care and various schemes to finance it, but lift nary a finger to demand we teach the only subject that can really change chidhood obesity: Quality, daily physical education.
While education officials at all levels bear responsibility for failing to demand the most basic elements of P.E., even worse are parents, local school boards and the physical education profession itself.
Parents first, because if they allow just one school year to go by during which their kids do not get a daily injection of quality, physical education, they are the problem.
Second, physical education professionals, because for decades they have hid behind the mantle of professional ethics and convinced themselves that political action in the name of healthy kids is beyond their scope of practice and a violation of various state laws prohibiting engagement in the political process. In a democracy, no one can take away your right to participate.
Indeed, a democracy only works for those who work it. If you sit on your butt and watch generation after generation go further and further down the tubes because they do not have the skills and appreciation for healthy living—particularly sports, games and vigorous leisure-time activities—then you, dear reader, are a part of the problem, too.
Not a day goes by that some public health authority doesn’t connect the dots between childhood obesity and lifelong chronic degenerative disease. CDC, HHS, NIH, U.S. Office of Education and their state and local counterparts offer little, if any, real leadership for change. They’re too busy doing double-blind studies and publishing research to be really engaged with what’s not going on at the grassroots.
They told us it couldn’t be done. Teachers are not supposed to mess with state legislators. All total crap. We changed everything and you can too.
If you’re a parent, P.E. and/or health education teacher, I challenge you to check in regularly with Be Active America. We will soon give you honest-to-goodness case studies of how a few dedicated professionals totally turned their P.E. program around from puke to powerful. I will also described what happened in a California State Legislature way back in 1970 when they were about to dump mandatory P.E. grades K-12 throughout the state. This is not just an old war story, but a case study on leadership.
They told us it couldn’t be done. Teachers are not supposed to mess with state legislators. All total crap. We changed everything, and you can too. No miracles, no big fundraising campaigns, just common sense, hard work and a deep abiding belief if we didn’t step up and do it, California kids would pay the price.
We won the day, but we have lost the game. If you agree with this position, let me know in the comments below or by private email. If you don't, tell me why and how you would do it better. The goal is to win the fight against childhood obesity and it's everybody's assignment.
Da Coach