For years, LAUSD has not enforced state laws requiring an average of 20 minutes per day of physical education for students in elementary schools.
LAUSD Board member Marlene Cantor is not one bit happy about this so today se is introducing a motion to enforce physical education laws.
In that LAUSD’s obesty figures have jumped from 20.2% in 1999 to 26.1% in 2006—which means that we’ve gone from 1 in 5 children being obese to over 1 in 4—sounds like Miz. Cantor has a point.
Here’s some background on the issue from when blogged about it last fall.
And The City Project, which is backing Cantor’s play, has additional details here.
Congratulations to Marlene Cantor for taking a stand on the importance of children’s health.
The key to success is not just more PE but more quality PE. I highly recommend you investigate PE4life. PE4life is the model for quality 21st century PE
Phil Lawler – PE4life Academy Director
Twenty whole minutes a day! …for which most of the time will be organizing the students and completing paperwork. That should do it!
Now, tell me. You’ve seen kids in P.E. The ones who were fit stayed fit and the ones who were fat stayed fat. Maybe the state should bar fat kids from the lunchroom and arrest their parents. That sounds like a liberal solution to me.
It’s just another “feel good” program.
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Too bad the state wants to encourage physical health but does everything to block spiritual health, which wouldn’t take nearly as long.
Oh, how are student grades in math, English, history, and science? Maybe parents should have the teachers arrested for taking money without earning it.
I bet the kids’ school exposure to “alternative lifestyles” is adequate, though.
Is it possible that the original goals of schools have been trashed by liberals–not “for the children” but for their own agendas and their lazy union workers?
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Let us know how these fitness programs worked in the past, and be sure to check back in a couple of years from now and tell me that there are no more fat kids in school.
What a waste of resources just to start another program and pretending to care.
Sorry. I didn’t answer your question…Does School P.E. Matter? (Correct Answer: Yes, of Course.)
“Yes, of course?!” Yeah, it matters if it takes time and resources away from academic subjects.
Celeste, what a scary photo! But those aren’t kids, are they? They look like post-partum women’s legs. For some reason I can’t and don’t want to recall exactly, pregnant women develop cellulite as some sort of protective mechanism whereby fat cells puff out to cushion the fetus — so they have an excuse and it really is hard to lose that cellulite even if they do work out. (If those really ARE kids, that’s especially worrisome. Are they?)
It takes more than aerobics and running around, and the traditional sports. It also requires Pilates and yoga and strength & resistance training, which are not feasible at public schools, and would require an even greater commitment and readjustment of the traditional exercise model. All the schools I’ve read about or know about personally do have PE, though, and LAUSD participates in fitness testing, so saying there’s no PE currently doesn’t seem correct. (Starting in 9th grade, PE is supposed to last a full period, which makes scheduling harder in academically troubled schools.)
WBC, The photo is supposedly of girls at camp. I pulled it off the web late last night. But, yeah, it is supposed to be kids. Most of the other photos were of grossly obese kids with their faces showing and this, because of the anonymity seemed preferable. But maybe you’re right and its of the kids’ parents.
I don’t think it’s an easy issue because of the things that you (and Woody) bring up about all the pressing needs in public schools.
Send them all to an Eastern Episcopalian boarding school like Groton or St Pauls and they’ll become sick of jockery!
And, I forgot to add for Woody’s sake, compilsory chapel. Nothing beats that for turning out atheists.
Ah, now we’re getting to the root of Richard’s situation. Would a daily prayer hurt you?
Kudo’s to M. Canter for bringing forth awareness to the issue of “Physical Education is a priority.” The childhood obesity issue is a responsibility that is shared by all Los Angeles citizens. It’s wonderful to see that LAUSD is taking a leadership role on this issue!
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