Are Schools Failing to Provide Time for Physical Activity?

In today's society the fact that more and more children are suffering from obesity is becoming a fear among the health experts. Children are staying indoors more with all the electronic entertainment available to them, and getting outdoors less and less. While not all children get a push at home to be physically fit and eat healthy, it seems our public school systems are constantly focusing this issue. Instead, they tell children that physical activity is important, and then they turn around and take away one of the most important parts of their day. Yes, it seems that recess is getting shorter and shorter these days.

When I was a child we had thirty minutes of recess three times a day. Now as I look at some of our public school systems I find that children are only getting fifteen minutes of recess at the most. I feel that cutting children short of this play time has a lot of bad effects and only one possible positive outcome.

The first negative side of this is something I mentioned above. Physical activity is important for children. Of course, schools still have their physical fitness classes. These are offered anywhere from two to three times a week and are usually an hour long. Still, is it enough?

The average school day starts at 8 am and ends at 3 pm. This is a seven hour day in which children are getting fifteen minutes for recess and an average of 45 minutes for lunch depending on the school district. This means that children are sitting for six hours on days when they do not have a physical fitness class and five hours when they do have a physical fitness class.

If you have children of your own then you know it is impossible for them to sit still for a period of six hours. As an adult it is hard for me to sit still for that long. Of course, it may not be easy for them, but it is expected. It only makes sense that if we would give them a little more time for activity then they would have an easier time sitting still and learning. Instead, teachers end up getting onto students for misbehaving.

What is a popular punishment for these behaviors? Taking away recess. As punishment for having too much energy and not being able to sit still we are taking the only fifteen minutes of activity away from them. Instead of going outside, they are forced to spend their time sitting in a classroom doing work. It only makes sense if they have too much energy let them work that out on the playground. It would make the afternoon go by a lot more quickly and better for everyone. The teacher would not have to waste energy trying to get the students to sit still and the students would spend more energy learning than moving around the room.

Why are we seeing this change in our public schools? The pressures for students to learn more at an earlier age is increasing. There are more things to learn in the school year and no time for teachers to fit it all in. Students are given standardized tests and expected to score high on these. If they do not score high it is a direct reflection on the teacher and the school district. In order for students to get the education required, schools are finding ways to cut back on time in other areas. Education is important, but at what point do we stop cutting back in areas that can be just as beneficial to children? I fear that there will come a day when even the fifteen minute recess is taken away and playgrounds become empty for the entire school day.

When children are unable to get the physical activity they need, their ability to learn is effecting. It also becomes a distraction for everyone else in the classroom. While our public school systems teach the importance of physical activity, they are falling short when it comes to promoting this activity.