The Schools Go Flabby

Surely the school accountability movement never meant for this to happen, but here we are: Schools are required by law to raise children’s reading and math scores, not their fitness levels. Strapped for cash and instructional time, educators are eliminating gym classes and cutting back on recess.

At the same time, the percentage of children who are obese has tripled over the last two decades, with their healthcare costs rising correspondingly. Children have higher rates of adult-type diabetes and, according to a report this month in the Journal of the American Medical Assn., higher blood pressure as well. Exercise, along with better diet, would help.

Despite recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. surgeon general, fewer than 10% of schools provide daily physical education. The CDC reports that one-quarter of children take no gym classes. Georgia eliminated PE requirements four years ago, and Atlanta schools, under pressure to raise academic outcomes, have killed recess and are building schools without playgrounds. Nearly 30% of elementary schools nationally have no regularly scheduled recess.

Minnesota has eliminated physical education as a graduation requirement, and Florida allows high schoolers the ultimate contradiction, an online fitness class. Physical education has gone into such a tailspin that Kansas State University shuttered its certification program for gym teachers a few years ago, and the University of Kansas may do the same. College students aren’t signing up for what looks like a dead end.

Research shows that physically active kids do better academically and that low-performing students are more likely to be obese. Without exercise at school, children are unlikely to get enough elsewhere. Fewer than one-fourth of school-age children are physically active for 20 minutes daily, even with gym classes -- though the CDC recommends at least half an hour each day. Close to a quarter of preteens don’t participate in any physical activity outside of school.

Many children can’t. Impoverished urban areas offer fewer recreational activities; witness the decision not to open six Los Angeles public swimming pools this summer. Neighborhoods can be too dangerous to play outside. Yet black males already are at higher genetic risk for high blood pressure and diabetes. Latinos and all children in low-income households are more likely to become obese.

Unlike many states, California requires daily gym classes, though the requirements fall off in high school. But the state doesn’t check compliance. A district in the Sacramento area recently cut back PE to save money, and Bakersfield schools are headed the same way.

With portable buildings plopped on blacktop, many California schools have no space for children to run or play ball. Students are relegated to the likes of jumping jacks -- no way to turn children on to the joys of exercise. And with up to 75 students crammed into a class, half the kids are hanging out in the back, chatting instead of moving.

The statistics reflect schoolyard reality. Fewer than a quarter of California students meet minimal physical fitness standards, and more than a quarter are overweight, according to results of the California Physical Fitness Test given to fifth-, seventh- and ninth-graders. That is significantly worse than the national average.

President Bush has urged Americans to get more physically active. But as with reading, schools won’t give priority to exercise until it is required and they are able to fund it. It’s a shallow victory when children can pass algebra but can’t walk a mile to school.