So no one has blogged yet and I thought I would spark the fire and add a hot topic for discussion. I'm a 3rd Year Physical Education (Phys. Ed.) student here at UVIC and for three years my professors have been pounding into our minds that Phys. Ed. is one of the most important school subjects in high school (something I agree with). In my opinion it is a "real" subject within the school system and has many benefits to the students within the class. It will positively influence students not only physically, but socially and academically. Patterns of a healthy active lifestyle if not learnt before graduation will not likely become apart of the students adulthood. I find it mildly offensive when people refer to other subjects as "real" when referencing them to Phys. Ed. Anybody else had situations like this?
-Ange
I am also a phys Ed student and I find this happens often coming from people that aren't involved in the field. I don't think it is done on purpose I just think that a lot of students experience in phys Ed is games. Games being played for fun and students being left out because they don't like the game being played or because they don't particularly strive in the games category and have a hard time participating. In my experience I have found that in other subjects it is not emphasized that phys ed is important. Of course being active is important but the idea that students are being taught things like sport education, where they are taught how to ref. a game or how to advertise successfully to get others to participate (the media aspect). Phys ed is not only a physically active class to encourage students to be more active but it is also a subject promoting a physcially active lifestyle and encouraging participation in the community outside of school!
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ReplyDeleteI definitely agree. It is critical that people learn how to be active. And if they start at a young age, they will keep it up for a lifetime. There are so many adults that do not know how to be healthy and they have children who sit around and play video games (especially in this generation). If we do not start to implement at a young age, then our population will fail to keep an active lifestyle. There is a lot of knowledge behind physical education and it should be shared with those who are incapable of performing a healthy, active lifestyle.
ReplyDeleteI just spent my sunday morning leading the walk group at the TC10k clinics and I had a number of people that had trouble walking at a relaxed pace for 30min and we are cutting PE budgets, anyone else see a problem with this?
ReplyDeleteBut it is important to realize that phys ed. goes far beyond fitness as well. The values that are natural to PE, such as sportsmanship, fairplay, leadership ect, are vital to our society, and difficult or impossible to teach in other subjects.
I agree Tyler there is more important values to P.E. than even the physical aspects. Stats Canada says that over half of all children aged 5-17 are NOT active enough for optimal growth. Are we giving our children and next generation a chance? Also on another hand there's the debate regarding the economic burden inactivity plays on Canada... I came across this just googling it:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11192648
What's your opinion?
I personally am not educated enough into the cost ect. but you might be...
Hey Ange,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your post. Us pe students don't always get the respect that we should by students taking other degrees. I think that it is very important to have qualified pe teachers because the ultimate goal of pe is to educate people so that they will be active for life. If there is a unqualified pe teacher who is just letting the students play dodgeball all class they are not going to gain skills that will keep them active for life. We are going to school for 5 years to learn about how to run effective classes. I feel that pe is a important subject that should not be overlooked.
Tyler I like what you touched on because I have found hiring my summer staff over the past few seasons that the people who played sports and were involved in teams had a better work ethic.The sportsmanship, fairplay and leadership skills are extremely helpful in many situations. These skills are extremely hard to teach and once obtained the student can only benefit. One thing I might add is the strength teamwork has.When people are used to doing things to help other people or make sacrifices for the team.More likely they are going to be a person you want to work with. I think Sports ed is a great way to engage all the students to use these skills. Does anyone have any other ideas?Could these skills be worked into a planning class?
ReplyDeleteIn response to the Physical Education thread - I agree that it raises some very interesting points of discussion.
ReplyDeleteFirst, I will start by saying that I am an Art Education student and I whole-heartedly agree that physical activity is an essential ingredient to a healthy lifestyle. Unfortunately, art is often not considered an academic subject either. Yet both of our subject areas are part of the provincial graduation criteria for everybody.
The underlying question for me from this thread is - who decides what is universally best for everyone? I have to include myself among the students in high school that felt unsuccessful in both P.E. and most traditional competitive team sports (volleyball, basketball and field hockey). On the other hand, I experienced great success in the sports I chose to participate in outside of school. Given a choice, I would never have participated in a class in which I rarely felt success. How do feelings of exclusion, inadequacy, failure, and potential public embarrassment, affect the future participation of students in physical activity?
My personal bias around these universal statements about what is best for all students is not just personal. It is also shaped by my experience working with students with a variety of challenges. Many are not successful in physically demanding, competitive team sports. So then I am curious to ponder - what exactly are the students learning?
For the students who are not interested in participating on school sports teams – would you agree that there are a variety of opportunities to participate in the community or to gain leadership skills? Perhaps my view of a physical education program that focuses on team sports is outdated?
Is it possible to remove our own subject bias and that of our professors, all of whom have invested time and money into a profession in which we individually feel successful and passionate about, from the epicentre of this debate, and ask instead what is in the best interest of individual students? If we did would the universal application of the P.E., or the art program, change?
I think every great academic debate has two sides – so I wonder if there are any detrimental effects to compulsory physical activity in the public school setting? I look forward to your response and value your opinion - as your knowledge, experiences, and training are different than my own.
Wow !!!!!!
ReplyDeleteGreat read !!
Throw in the sad reality of growing obesity and the cost to our society - not to mention the individuals who suffer with obesity induced illnesses and inconveniences.
For some very few students, Distributed Learning does offer an alternative to the "school setting".