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The nature of physical education in America is undergoing a transformation and PE teachers across the country seem pleased with what is happening. Physical education has maintained much of the same look and feel for the better part of the last four or five generations in this country but the PE landscape is turning into what physical educators are calling “The New PE.”
Gone are the days of activities like dodgeball that encourage students to be the strongest, fastest, biggest and which see actual physical exercise issued as a form of punishment for students who don’t perform up to par or who perform below the level of their classmates.
Physical educators are now implementing curriculums that involve target heart rate programs, personalized fitness regiments, and sports that cater more to the strengths and skill levels of individual students. The brave new world of physical education also shows students activities that they can incorporate into their everyday lives for the long term.
With almost one out of every three children in the United States being either overweight or outright obese, changes in the PE system in America are long overdue. With the proliferation of technology in the form of video games and the like, children are living much more sedentary lives and as a result, much less healthy ones as well.
Several associations across the country for physical educators have spent more than two decades attempting to utilize teacher training and certain academic standards in order to make new PE curriculums more accessible.
Michelle Obama has even been heavily involved in helping to implement changes to the nation’s physical education landscape by running a nationwide campaign to “get kids moving.” She launched a program in several schools across America aimed at increasing physical activity for children by having the school dedicate 60 minutes per day to exercise for students.