EDITORIAL

A Dream for Physical Education

I write this preparing to fly to Singapore to attend the country's biennial conference for physical education teachers. Smaller than most US states, Singapore's education system is government coordinated and dedicated to sustaining the future needs of one of today's most successful Asian nations. Supporting this mission, the country's physical education leaders are focusing on creating effective school PE programs that will reverse the sedentary living trends threatening the nation's health. It's no easy task. Similar to the US, obesity is trending upwards in Singapore. And Singaporeans, like most nations worldwide, are seeking solutions.

For two reasons, as a physical educator I'm not inclined to take much responsibility for worsening obesity. Obesity's tripling over the past 30 years has paralleled most of my professional career - a spectacularly unimpressive record that I'd prefer to ignore. But more importantly, physical educators simply don't have much control over most of obesity's causes. Reports of worsening obesity do however alarm me, because it is symptomatic of declining physical activity and physical activity is something that I do believe physical educators should be trying to promote.

What's amazing amidst all of the changes taking place in the world today is the unchanging need for the human body to move in order to grow, develop, and stay healthy. Looking into the future we face environmental uncertainties, global economic challenges, inevitable international and domestic political squabbles and conflicts, and ongoing scientific, medical, and technological breakthroughs. But however these outcomes change our lives we can be pretty certain that people everywhere, and especially children, will continue to need opportunities to be physically active.

In one sense this is great news for physical educators because it seems to guarantee us job security. After all, this is what we do isn't it? We get children moving. But that's also the problem. Based on worldwide obesity data we don't seem to be doing a very good job. Where is the evidence that children today are becoming more physically active and – as we often claim as our purpose – leading healthy and active lives both as youngsters and then as adults? Sadly, we don't have much to shout about. And this is worrisome.

Like many others, I've been wondering how best to get people active. Presently, in the US, millions of federal and foundation dollars are being devoted to preventing an economic and health train wreck, and lots of smart minds are deliberating solutions. I decided to take a slightly different approach. Instead of trying to solve the dilemma for an entire population or even a community, both of which were a bit mind-boggling to me, I chose to think small. Specifically, I decided I'd look for a single role model. If we want to get people to be physically educated, surely I thought it makes sense to try to learn from the lifestyle of an exemplary physically educated role model. And after much searching I found what I was looking for. I went next door and thoughtfully watched "Walkin," my neighbor’s dog.

Walkin is remarkably healthy despite not being highly educated. She did not attend school and didn't participate in physical education classes or interscholastic athletics. What she's learned wasn't from reading, television, or online media. I'm not sure she got advice from anyone. And interestingly, Walkin doesn't use any technology to monitor her physical activity.

Finally, based on my observations, it does seem that she has a fairly limited repertoire of movement skills; mostly walking, running, and jumping to catch objects in her mouth. Nevertheless, for many years she's naturally done all that was needed to stay healthy. Throughout the day Walkin runs and walks when she wants to, sits and rests when she feels like it, and eats when she's hungry. She sticks to a healthy diet and doesn't overeat. And following this regimen not only has Walkin for many years enjoyed an active and healthy lifestyle; by all appearances she seems remarkably happy.

Well as I learned, the formula to Walkin's success was pretty simple. She was raised and lives in an environment that allows her to follow her natural instinct to move and to regularly eat the right amount of healthy food. It's a success story illustrating what we'd like to achieve in physical education. But if you think about it, this story could have had a very different ending. If Walkin had been raised in a cage or tied to a short tether that limited movement, she would not only have been unable to become a physical education role model but would in fact have become conditioned to sedentary living. And this of course is exactly what we are doing to our children today. We're raising them in conditions in which it's impossible for them to learn the habits of an active lifestyle.

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