Physical Education We All Remember

Physical Education

We all remember physical education from our school days. Yet, recent studies have showed a great decline in success of these programs in recent years. Poor school conditions, large class sizes, and uncooperative students all threaten to hinder the success of physical education in America's schools. Yet, two articles aim to provide both methods for detecting problems, and strategies to solve those problems.

Physical education is primarily conducted outside in most American schools, as such children in urban areas are sometimes exposed to pollutants in the air. According to Hill and Hulbert (2007), "When aerobic activities are performed in environments polluted with carbon monoxide, there is often a significant reduction in performance levels," (21). Children in more urban areas are, once again, exposed to more pollutants. Therefore, their average performance levels within the field of physical education will no doubt prove lower than children who are allowed to exercise in relatively pollutant free environments. Additionally, many schools also have other environmental factors that hinder successful implementation of physical education. A lack of space, proper faculty training, and lack of funding in favor of other programs, all threaten the field of physical education around the country. Hill and Hulbert's 2007 article then commenced to create a survey which could be used by individual schools in order to judge the value and success of their physical education programs. With proper knowledge of program pitfalls, schools can then work to formulate better strategies for successful physical education programs. The second article reviewed, Mary Henniger and Margo Coleman's "De-Escalation: How to Take Back Control in Your Urban Physical Education Classes," (2008) looks to the provide viable strategies which urban schools can implement to help save their physical education programs. These strategies primarily deal with adjusting to the large number of students, who may then become uncooperative based on a low student to faculty ratio. This is a common problem in the case of urban schools, and must be dealt with accordingly in order to save the program itself. The primary strategy Henniger and Coleman present in the case of large classes and misbehaving students is that of de-escalation. According to the article itself, "De-escalation consists of two skill sets, proactive and reactive techniques designed to minimize or detract from the energy that disruptive situations add to the classroom," (Henniger & Coleman 2008:13).