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Outside Magazine August 2001

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Better Shape Up (cont.)

ONE RECENT MORNING I dropped in on my girls' gym classes to see how the tests were going—and was stunned. I wasn't expecting the draconian brutality of my own PE experience, but I wasn't prepared for what I saw: Many kids weren't even coming close to the 50th percentile.

"The fact is, we've seen a dramatic decline in the physical fitness of American youth over the past two decades," says the Council's Christine Spain. "And despite a steep increase in girls' participation in athletics, their decline has been just as precipitous as the boys'."

I was shocked to learn that my own children only get 25 minutes of PE twice a week at their public school—not even close to enough time to prepare them for the rigor of these tests, let alone a physically active life.

"If they still have recess, that's better than many schools across the nation," says Anne Flannery, executive director of P.E.4LIFE, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit founded last year and dedicated to promoting daily physical education for American kids. "Fewer than half of U.S. schools even offer PE anymore. Only one state in the country, Illinois, has a daily PE requirement for grades K-12."

How did PE all but disappear from American schools?

"The two most important factors," says Flannery, "were the increased pressure for better performance on standardized tests, and budget constraints. During periods of fiscal difficulty, academics are given much higher priority, and PE was put on the chopping block. Many schools now have only one PE instructor for 500, 600, or 700 students."

What about all those beautiful fit people throwing mountain bikes into the back of their new four-by-four in TV commercials? What about all those upscale gyms filled with Lycra-clad lovelies? What about the youth-culture rush to become fashionable hunks and babes?

"Media hype," declares Spain. "Our whole society has changed, and the importance of health and physical fitness has been completely derailed. Even the army has had to lower its physical fitness standards to get recruits. The real message hasn't gotten through. Take an honest look at our kids, at ourselves—we're fat."

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