Senator Ralph Northam wrote an op-ed for Thursday’s Virginian-Pilot in which he discusses his bill, SB 966, which provides for 150 minutes of physical education each week for grades K through 8.
The bill does not require schools to hire more teachers. All teachers in grades K-8 are already certified to teach P.E., so hiring additional staff will be unnecessary. It does not require schools to construct gym facilities. Many elements of P.E., including the health and nutrition education components that will count toward the 150 minutes, can be carried out in a standard classroom. Finally, it does not require schools or children to abandon music or art education: They will remain essential parts of childhood development in our schools.
When I was a kid, P.E. was required. For that matter, we didn’t get out of P.E. until 11th grade. But then we also had art and music.
Oh, and no SOLs 😉
Seriously – I don’t see a problem with requiring P.E., especially if it helps with childhood obesity and, ultimately, adult obesity.
What am I missing?
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
The complaint I’ve heard from school system types is that the time lost in the school day would seriously hurt their ability to teach kids the SOL-driven curriculum. High-stakes testing has already become an excuse for eliminating elementary school recess in a number of systems nationwide.
Personally I think kids not only need the physical exercise; they need the mental break that switching from intellectual to physical activity during the day provides. I fully support this law.
Vivian, I also had P.E. until 10th grade. And took “Advance Gym” in 11th…wasn’t really advanced, just a chance to mess around on gymastics equipement.
I agree with Randy that the break in the day for physical activity helps kids concentrate in their academic classes.
Even better, I’ve spoken to doctors who tell me the latest research is that physical activity in kids creates the same kind of chemical responses that some behavior medications do….meaning physical activity helps modify behavior.
Yup. It is really crazy that to punish misbehavior, little kids lose recess! The very thing they need to curb the misbehavior is taken away because of the misbehavior. What they really need is to take a lap.
BK- so more PE time, less medicating the maculinity out of little boys? Seems like a win/win.
So it sounds like I haven’t missed anything here. The governor should sign the bill.
I think that a reasonable objection (one that I share, frankly) is that this is yet another unfunded mandate from the state. Both the state and federal government have loaded schools down with things that they must do, and those things are amounting to the entire school day. Now there’s a thing that they have to spend half an hour on each day. So what’s the plan that schools who are not already requiring half an hour of phys. ed. each day? Are they to extend the school day by half an hour? Who will pay for that? Is the state going to eliminate half an hour’s worth of curriculum that kids are required to learn, so that the school day doesn’t need to be extended? What about schools that lack any sort of phys. ed. facilities, or even a phys. ed. teacher? Do we want them jumping rope in the hallways, instructed by the janitor?
I think that physical activity for kids is incredibly important, and I think that it should be provided by schools. But I also think that it’s a lousy deal that localities are being told that they have to do it, without any consideration as to how they might accomplish that.
Please read the posted article (especially the blockquote), then comment.
Read the blockquote and the article. Sen. Northam doesn’t answer where the time will come from. It comes from art and music. Unless you add a half hour a day, there is no other way because the school system will not cut any of the core out.
When I went to grade school in Fairfax County in the mid-1960s, I had all the core courses, plus music, plus art, plus recess, plus phys ed. I even remember having a couple of hours of French a week. There was time for everything then. Where did that time go?
Virginia Beach elementary schools teach 150 minutes of PE each week, plus art, music, technology and all of the core subjects. It can be done.
I read the bill when it was filed, I read the impact statement when it was published, and I read the article before I commented. None of my concerns were addressed by Sen. Northam. (Or, to put it in a fashion that doesn’t imply causality, the concerns that I raised consisted only of those that were not addressed by Sen. Northam’s editorial.)
If the state were serious about this, they’d provide the funding to accompany it.
Obesity isn’t about a lack of exercise. It is about giving our kids (and adults) the wrong foods. Man didn’t evolve to eat pizza. The food pyramid is wrong… Bread didn’t exist in prehistoric times. Our bodies haven’t evolved to eat a lot of the foods we eat now. What we need is high quality food for our kids in the cafeteria. Limit carbohydrates and sweets. Promote good proteins, fruits and vegetables. Keep the calorie counts and portion sizes to appropriate levels.
While the politicos whine about the exercise plan, no one is looking at the food plans, or investing in better foods.
Prehistoric man may not have eaten bread, but he also didn’t sit at a desk for hours each day contemplating Venn diagrams. A hunter-gatherer culture gets more than enough exercise from the basics of trying to find food and shelter. Most of us don’t. Lumberjacks can easily consume twice the calories of sedentary office workers without gaining weight. Food is important. So is exercise.
I agree with Randy here – food and exercise are both parts of the problem.
My point is still valid. No one wants to fund better food in our schools.
When I was in school we had Gym/PE classes all the way through senior year of High School along with art, music, shop, typing and club. Not sure why we can’t do it now.