Improving The Public On The Importance Of Nutritional Meals And Physical Activity

Almost all students in the United States have had that dreaded Physical education class. With all of the hard work done in a regular day for a student, they need to get out energy at some point. I propose that Hudson City Schools should keep the now standing PE program instead of forcing kids to do a sport every year in school because it improves test scores, promotes overall health, and because it includes many different sports instead of just one.

Nowadays, more children in the United States are struggling with obesity. According to the State of Obesity (2012), “5 percent of 6-to-11-years-olds were severely obese” (para. 2). Since we discovered such information, we decided to follow big idea number ten which states, “Primary education (six to eight years) must be designed to meet the unique development of children this age” (Couchenour & Chrisman, 2011, p. 276). We created an advocacy action plan called Nutritionists and Healthy Lunches (N.H.L). In this action plan, we advocate that elementary schools should hire at least two nutritionists. The nutritionists would go into each classroom at least once a week for about twenty minutes. During these

In A Comparison of Children’s Physical Activity Levels in Physical Education, Recess, and Exergaming, the authors compare activity levels of children while participating in physical education class, recess, and exergaming programs. One hundred forty, first and second graders activity levels were assessed using accelerometers. Each week the children participated in three, thirty-minute physical education classes and two exergaming sessions lasting thirty minutes. The children also participated in daily, twenty-minute recess sessions after lunch. Results indicate that children “had the highest sedentary time in PE, followed by recess, and then exergaming.” (Gao, 2015). The results of the study indicate, “PE was the least effective school-based

Gym class was my favorite part of the day in elementary school; I could run around and climb a rope all the way till I touched the ceiling. I have never had a bad memory in gym, though so many think it’s pointless and haven’t had the same experiences. Health is not just the schools responsibility but the communities as well; many people say they don’t want to climb a rope and see if they can touch the ceiling. They feel embarrassed that they won’t be able to climb it at all; physical education helps with stress, it shouldn’t create it. PE should be seen to help student’s run around and let out energy; so many schools have PE class for every other day and for a short period of time. Many students see PE as useless; a lot of people in my PE classes skipped, or pretended to be sick. Students need to learn how important PE is; this can be done if the community gets involved with physical education as well; to learn that PE helps kids push themselves to reach to the top. Physical education is important for every student; it helps physically, mentally, and encourages team work not just with the children but the whole community itself.

Though healthy eating is important I believe much emphasis should also be placed on physical activity. We have become a sedentary society aided by technology and changing times. Whereas children use to ride bikes and play in the parks after school, they now spend most of the time indoors playing video games and watching television. Michelle Obama’s “let’s move “program unveiled in 2010 had four components one of which is “healthier school”. This program advocates integrating existing programs in schools with new resources to provide Support for schools and encourage physical activities and healthy living. It emphasizes the need for collaboration between students, teachers’ administrators and parents for the success of the program. ( Briefing room: The Whitehouse office of the first lady, feb 28 2013.)

Implementing physical education as early as elementary should give children time to get used to P.E. and hopefully help them have a great mindset for working out and staying fit. “School setting offers opportunities to enjoy physical activity outside of class, including recess periods for unstructured play in elementary schools, after-school programs, intramural sports programs, and physical activity clubs.” (Wechsler 6) This quote states that offering multiple recreational physical activities while disguising it as something fun, gives children an intriguing sense on P.E. “Well-implemented school programs can effectively promote physical activity.” (Wechsler 3) This quote states that physical education programs in schools are for students to stay healthy and to get them active. It is the educator's responsibility to keep every student on track with their participation. If students do not participate it is certain they will lose their grade in that

When adults think of physical education they think of going to work out in a gym, running on a treadmill or even lifting weights. But for kids, it means playing and being physically active. The most common time that kids exercise is during the time that they have gym class or during recess. Unfortunately, over the recent years the time that kids should exercise has been either decreased or physical education has been cut completely. Physical education helps with promoting student’s general health so when they get older it is implanted in their brains on how

In recent times the goal of education has become focused on standardized testing and other forms of academic assessment. Due to this new focus classes involving the arts and physical education have been cut drastically in order to make more time for traditional subjects like math and science. A New York Times article which focused on the ever growing trend of cutting physical education classes quoted a teacher, “There is shrinking P.E. and recess time for our kids, P.E. teachers are fighting like cats and dogs to hold the line on their jobs and worth, at the same time as there is a dawning awareness that we have missed the boat.” Many studies have shown that increasing time in the classroom and decreasing time that students have to be physical activity is having the opposite of the desired affect. Physical Education should be treated as a core subject and required in schools daily.

There is nothing more important than health, especially in this day and age. It’s concerning that only 29 percent of high school students surveyed by the CDC (2011) had participated in at least 60 minutes of physical activity on all seven days before the survey. The CDC also noted that only 31 percent of these high school students attended physical education class daily. Only 8 percent of elementary schools, 6.4 percent of middle schools, and 5.8 percent of high schools provide daily physical education to all of its students (SHPPS, 2000). The government is missing the fact that physical education can actually improve test scores, not the opposite.

Physical education is or should become incorporated in schools more due to lack of inactivity. It has proven to help in preventing obesity amongst the children and teens when physical education was added in the learning curriculum. As it was proven by “physical activity across the curriculum (PAAC) it has shown promise in weight management” (Gibson, et al, 2008). PAAC evaluated “4905 children from 24 schools” for a year by helping teachers involving physical activity in their teaching lessons to better help in improving, and teaching kids about being active. The PAAC helped teachers create lesson plans with physical activities during breaks and make other lesson plans a bit more fun than just the regular routine. During the time, that PAAC was helping with the lesson plans it was shown, that teachers had increased physical activity from “47 minutes to 65 minutes” as well as helped with behavioral issues some students might have or fidgeting plus it made them more focused and alert which the teachers loved. Still

In this news article, physical education (PE) cuts across America are brought to light, and many professionals are interviewed where their knowledge of the subject is shared. A professional, interviewed by Bader stated, “There is a link between physical activity, brain development and achievement. We're using this fact to push for returning physical activity to schools.” There is a substantial number of interviews, facts, and news found within this article which is why I think it is beneficial to my paper.

Incorporating physical activity for students every day is important for many reasons. Physical activity promotes emotional and mental health benefits. It also decreases the risk of obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease. Health and educational professionals agree that physically active students perform better in the classroom. One study found a statistically significant relationship between fitness and academic achievement (Chomitz, Slining, McGowan, Mitchell, Dawson, & Hacker, 2009). Agencies, political leaders, and organizations are beginning to see how important regular physical activity is for children and adolescents

Thesis: There are coexisting links between physical education in a school environment and the rising health concerns of our society.

Physical Education is becoming a “special,” along with art, music and other valuable classes that many school districts have decided are not important enough to schedule daily. As a result, America’s children spend most of their school hours sitting still. The lack of physical activity, coupled with overeating, has led to an increase in childhood obesity.

The ethical debate throughout the United States is whether or not schools provide physical education programs. In the state of Kansas, school districts are not required to comply with the physical education standards, therefore, the time committed to physical education in schools during the week is wide-ranging. Evidence shows that physical education programs combat obesity, stimulates brain development, increases academic performance, creates healthy lifestyles in children which is associated with a decrease in future health care costs. Oppositions to providing physical education programs include school districts have the autonomy to decide what standards to follow and funding priorities are needed elsewhere. To facilitate change in the lack of physical education in schools, the school districts in the state of Kansas must comply with the state standards for physical education. To accomplish this, the state should specify standards more clearly, provide more funding to physical education, and support with more education regarding the benefits of this change to the school districts.