What is the purpose of public education? What subjects do we think are most important to teach? When we discussed these questions throughout the course of the last two weeks, our answers to the first question (many of us agreed that the HCZ model of providing holistic education to our students and other members of the community was crucial to ending the achievement gap) came in slight conflict with our answers to the second question. We were asked to identify what we saw as the order of importance of the subjects taught in public schools. The overwhelming majority of us ranked Physical Education at or near the absolute bottom of our list; while Health was ranked slightly higher on average it was still usually in the bottom ten as well. Then, when the public response to the same question was revealed, we were shocked to see the importance responders placed on these subjects.
As we began studying Harlem Children's Zone as a model for education reform, however, many of us cited Canada's efforts to educate parents, children, and other community members on issues of public health that are often a major issue in low-income neighborhoods. In comparing the KIPP model with HCZ, most of us agreed that it was, in fact, the responsibility of public schools to provide some form of Health and Physical Education.
Recently, the New York Times reported that despite growing public concern over childhood obesity rates, Physical Education classes are being cut nationwide. The article suggests that the growing emphasis on tested subjects such as Reading and Math, combined with increasingly tight budgets in public schools, has led to this decline in programs. Unfortunately, the very Physical Education programs that are being cut in favor of "more academic content" have been proven to have a positive impact on student achievement.
Keeping in mind the positive impact Phys. Ed can have on our students, as well as the apparent public opinion that Health and Phys. Ed. should be priorities in our schools, why have major urban districts turned their back on these subjects?
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4 comments:
I think the unfortunate truth of reform is our need to pick our battles. I think phys ed and health are important parts of a students education but, looking at the reality of how these subjects are actually taught, am forced to question whether they are as vital as we often make them out to be.
If we are talking about solving health problems within the community, I think alternative approaches have the potential to be more effective than traditional phys ed and health classes. For example, HCZ's attempt to educate the parents (who are, in most situations, the one's making the health related decisions in our families), has the potential to have a radical impact. Furthermore, it is an unfortunate truth of urban landscapes that food deserts do exist. Before we start asking why our students are choosing poor options, we have to first make sure that they even have that choice to make. In other words, yes, health and phys ed are important but I am of the opinion that when talking about the problems that they purport to solve, other factors come into play that call into question the efficacy of phys ed and health. (have any studies been done on obesity rates in districts that have strong phys ed programs vs. those that don't?)
In today's fast paced society many families are turning to fast food and students are spending their money on junk food at the corner store. As schools prioritize programs to be cut it scares me that health and physical education programs are being thrown by the wayside. This past year I saw students arrive at 7:30am half-way through a soda and a bag of chips...by 10am they were trying to sneak a candy bar during passing time...and by the afternoon they could barely keep their eyes open because of the sugar highs and lows. I truly believe that something needs to be done regarding health and physical education in this increasingly obese country. I found Canada's community health initiatives to be extremely intriguing. What do we need to do as a city to make healthy food choices and exercise facilities more readily available?
I think the declining presence of physical education in American Public Schools is particularly concerning when considered in light of Sir Ken Robison's comments on the rising number of diagnoses of ADHD in his piece "Changing Education Paradigms." Not only are we contributing to the obesity epidemic by eliminating gym in students' schedules, but we are labeling them with a learning disability when they are unable to in a chair for seven hours a day. As a functioning adult, I had difficult sitting in class for eight hours a day the past two weeks without getting restless. Is it fair to expect elementary school students to perform at high levels without letting them be physically active for at least a short amount of time?
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