During the final few years that I was teaching, there was an initiative to introduce more physical exercise into the school day in response to the claim that kids were getting more obese. I was always very skeptical of this initiative. There is no doubt that kids benefit from exercise and that it has health benefits, but the approach that was promoted by the schools just didn`t make sense.
It started out as DVPA (Daily Vigorous Physical Activity). Later it changed to just DPA because a student running stairs in a local school suffered a heart attack. In response to this tragedy, which was likely the result of a congenital condition, teachers were instructed to dial back the vigorous nature of their daily physical activity. This activity takes place outside if the weather conditions permit, but is most often inside, which means in the classroom or hall. Although teachers were given slick booklets of ideas for activities, trying to get a bunch of kids to become active in a room, often filled with more than 30 desks, is a little futile. One problem, that of ending up with a room full of sweaty, smelly bodies, usually did not really materialize since15 minutes of the kind of activities that can be successfully accomplished in a crowded classroom, with a significant percentage of the students showing less than minimal exertion, rarely results in said sweaty bodies. The 20 minutes per day that is supposed to be used to accomplish this is not set aside by the school, but has to be stolen from some other subject in the school day, meaning that the Math or Science period would be reduced to half of it`s normal length in order to go through this ritual.
And ritual it is. My observation was that it did not approach any degree of effectiveness, but was just a teacher going through the motions because it was mandated. It didn`t work for the following reasons:
1. Twenty minutes a day, usually translated realistically int 10 or 15 minutes a day, which is not enough to result in any real benefit by anybody`s standards. The American Heart and Stroke people stated several years ago that 60 – 90 minutes of strenuous exercise was required to maintain weight, never mind achieve significant weight loss.
2. Ten years ago students enjoyed two 15 minute periods of outdoor recess each day. In recent years that has been scaled back to one 15 minute recess, with the other one being devoted to eating snacks. So, 15 minutes of outside activity was subtracted from the school day during the same period that this exercise initiative was implemented. And the current trend is to scuttle any recesses where it is raining or may be too cold, reflecting the protectionist attitude that we have regarding our kids. This is the same attitude that often discourages kids from playing outside, in a forest, or in the evening, or any situation that might contain a grain of danger. This is the same attitude that causes adults to ban one activity after another because of potential danger, and had them remove our school-yard swings for safety reasons.
3. Years of observing classes trying to implement DVP has demonstrated that the kids who need the activity the most are usually the ones that are able to sidestep it. At best, they go through the motions in a way that minimizes any possible physical benefits that they might possibly get. Similarly, in the Physical Education classes (usually twice a week, if not canceled by an assembly or special activity) those students who most need the physical activity have learned that it is easy to avoid participation. Most teachers will not allow students to participate in Phys. Ed. unless they have appropriate gym clothing. This is the loop hole that many students exploit to avoid Gym. They don`t mind writing lines or getting a low Gym mark if it means they won`t have to exert themselves.
4. Exercise results in hunger, meaning that the those students who needed to burn calories and lose weight, just went home and were less active, or ate more for their after school snack.
The bottom line is that 20 minutes of wanna-be exercise a day is not going to achieve much and often interferes with other instruction that the school is trying to accomplish. The research is not even clear on the fact that exercise contributes to weight control. In 2005 the American Heart An Stroke Foundation clearly said that exercise should help control weight, although there is currently no research evidence to verify that this is so. The research that exists points to 60 -90 minutes per day being necessary for any real results.
Many researchers and nutritionists have stated that exercise is not the most important component of weight control, accounting for less than 20% of the cause. The other 80% is diet and genetic predisposition. Some kids are going to be chunky even when they are healthy. It`s called an endomophic metabolism. The kids that are truly obese need intervention at home, not at school. To blame the schools, or saddle them with the responsibility for decreasing obesity (which amounts to the same thing) is unfair. Telling kids they are fat because they are sedentary (fancy word for lazy) is not fair either.
Schools already provide the amount of Physical Education classes that can be crammed into the school day, and most provide great extra-curricular opportunities. Personally, I think they should reinstitute the second 15 minute recess period. Aside from that, the responsibility for physical activity and (more importantly) diet rests with the parents.
And ultimately, we shouldn`t lose sight of the fact that children are developing at differing rates of growth and their metabolisms are fluctuating wildly. I know several adolescent boys who are very active and still a little heavy. Do you want to curtail their eating when they`re going through a growth spurt. (Clearly, I know, you can reduce empty calories from junk food without reducing overall calories. But what is junk food. Twinkies are, but is pizza to a teenager. –Question mark key not working for some reason!)
PW's Rants 