| The
Tipping Point and School Physical Education
 As
we enter 2007, we once again have a fresh start. Have you written
down your goals and resolutions? Many veteran physical educators
and scholars wonder if this will be our year. Will this be the year
that moves school physical education forward? Will others (legislators,
parents, community leaders and youth) finally understand and support
contemporary physical education? Will our tipping point happen this
year?
Malcolm Gladwell (2000) authored a popular book entitled The
tipping point: How little things can make a big difference.
The term "tipping point" has become part of our every
day lexicon. For our purposes in physical education, a tipping point
is "that dramatic moment in a social epidemic when everything
can change all at once - the moment of critical mass, the threshold,
the boiling point." Gladwell suggests that ideas, products,
messages, and behaviors (and maybe quality school physical education)
can spread much like epidemics.
It would be easy to just hope that physical education tips. We
have done our part with revised NASPE Standards (2004), five years
of PEP funding, expanded research and the push for evidence-based
practices, and numerous advocacy campaigns outlining the importance
of physical education and physical activity. Even Richard Simmons
has a newfound purpose to improve school physical education. Finally,
more legislators, administrators, parents, community leaders, and
youths are understanding that school physical education includes
important learning for a child's future and that this subject is
part of the solution for curbing obesity.
This rosy picture, and faith, must be tempered with the reality
that PEP funding may be reduced in 2007. No Child Left Behind (NCLB)
has left too many youths on their behinds and remains a political
football, and mindless physical education teachers still pervade
our schools. Too many teachers lead programs that resemble physical
education in the 1950s – when I was a child.
NASPE's Shape of the nation (2006) report, although showcasing
incremental progress in many K-12 schools, reminds us that most
indicators of quality physical education (NASPE) are lacking for
most youths in the United States. I received some disappointing
news last December from a cause-marketing expert, that over 200,000
physical education teachers are employed in the United States. However,
only 16,000 belong to the National Association for Sport and Physical
Education (NASPE). Why is this so?
Depending upon the day, or what we have recently read, it's easy
to take positive or negative views of our subject matter (we have
all been down both roads during our careers and can easily argue
from both vantage points). From an intellectual perspective, it's
important to weigh both sides of any issue or challenge, and test
our assumptions. The metaphor for my professional journey, in physical
education, has been much like the erratic rise and fall of the stock
market. Will we be in a Bear or Bull market in the coming months
or year?
Nevertheless, let us suspend these conflicting thoughts for a moment
and see if Gladwell's concepts will enlighten us. What can we do
to ignite and guide a positive epidemic in school physical education?
Tipping points often include at least five characteristics or rules.
First, what we do in physical education must demonstrate contagious
or transmittable behaviors. Are we thinking differently (Siedentop,
JOPERD, 1992), and have we honestly questioned the status quo? Have
we taken intelligent action to reframe physical education?
Second, little changes can have big effects, and
this means that all teachers, at all levels, must continue to modify
the teaching and learning process. This includes, but is not limited
to, standards, curriculum, teaching strategies, and assessment practices.
Most importantly, are we communicating the right thoughts and images
to the right people in the right way? And, despite our wonderful
technologies, word-of-mouth epidemics are best according to Gladwell's
theory.
Third, change often happens at one dramatic moment.
We are still waiting for our moment! Many of us thought the federally
funded PEP grants would tip the nation towards quality, daily, physical
education. This was only wishful thinking, and now we must consciously
create, test, and focus our collective resources for future success.
Fourth, the law of the few states that social
epidemics are often driven by the knowledge, skill, energy, and
influence of a small group of professionals. I believe we have this
piece in place, but need to continue attracting creative and open-minded
professionals to the field. We need informed and dynamic professionals
to help us tip the field. Gladwell reminds us "what must underlie
successful epidemics…is a bedrock belief that change is possible,
that people can radically transform their behavior or beliefs…"
Fifth, the stickiness factor will be critical
to tipping our field. This includes the ways we imprint the subject
matter of physical education into our culture. Stickiness means
that "a message makes an impact and you can’t get it
out of your head." School physical education must become more
than a causal experience in a child's day. It must have meaning,
and must move from the margins to become memorable. Physical education
must enrich and empower the lives of children, youths, and families.
Long ago, Henry David Thoreau stated "things do not change,
we change." As we embark on a new year, it's certainly time
for positive resolutions. Let's all agree to read something new,
think boldly about change, experiment, and work collaboratively.
Let's teach and promote tiny, contagious, dramatic, and sticky efforts
to tip school physical education.
Craig Buschner
President-Elect NASPE
California State University, Chico
|
