Ask Auntie Pinko
March 13, 2003

Dear Auntie Pinko,

Has anyone ever considered how sports programs hamper our educational programs? My friend's boy has a science book that is 13 years old. The school district he is in has a new gymnasium, track, and locker room. There is something wrong with this picture.

That (Republican-controlled) district has recently run into budget problems. One might think that sports programs would be the first to be cut and the last to be funded. Schools are supposed to be halls of education. The music program has been axed first. There has to be an issue in this. A separation of sports and education if you will.

Brian,
Sportsville, USA

Dear Brian,

Auntie Pinko is a strong believer in the old motto "mens sana in corpore sano," which roughly translated means that the mind functions better when the body functions better. So I would never support a separation of sports and education, if by that you mean the elimination of sports programs from schools.

Our culture has changed a lot during Auntie Pinko's lifetime. In spite of the truly dreadful health care crisis, there are far more resources available for people today to address health problems. (The question of real access to those resources can wait for another discussion.) When I was in school there were periodic epidemics of diseases that crippled and killed children and adults, and vaccines were only beginning to be available for many of them. We knew much less about what works (and why it works) to stay healthy.

From that standpoint, it would seem that children should have a much easier time being healthy - but other cultural changes have worked against that. The availability of high-calorie, low-nutrition snacks is almost universal, and it's produced a distressing epidemic of obesity among children. When I was young, there were plenty of sedentary amusements like reading, etc., but they were not nearly as compelling and ever-present as computer games and television. (Yes, we had television, but it was a novelty and we watched it together as a family. The children's access was strictly limited and it was never used as a babysitter!)

So today's children have just as many challenges to their health as children did when I was in school.

Physical education was developed to address two priorities that are thoroughly integrated with the core mission of our schools to educate: The first priority is maximizing the ability of children to learn, because they are healthy; the second priority is teaching them about health and how to maintain it. And I'm fully in support of these priorities.

That said, Brian, I am also in agreement with you that a school district that cannot afford to buy up-to-date science texts should probably re-examine how all educational priorities are reflected in their budgeting and expenditure decisions. And, while you did not raise this issue specifically, I am also extremely concerned about whether the physical education programs of today are actually addressing those priorities, by their very nature and structure.

Physical education should have real educational goals, and physical education programs should be held accountable for achieving those goals. Appropriate goals should include helping each child find discover and master physical activities that they enjoy and can integrate into their lives voluntarily, on a regular basis. They should include teaching children the technical skills of how to use their bodies safely while avoiding injury. They should include teaching children how to balance the values of competition, sportsmanship, teamwork, and individual achievement.

The goals physical education programs should be held accountable to should not, in Auntie Pinko's opinion, include winning certain numbers of tournaments in certain types of sports. They should not include encouraging athletic achievement as a desirable path to wealth and status. They should not include having a certain number or percentage of graduates receiving athletic scholarships. They should not include providing parents or alumni with "bragging rights" about winning records.

But the only way to ensure that your school district's physical education program goals are the appropriate ones, Brian, is for you and other parents who share your beliefs (regardless of political party or ideology,) to become involved in helping school boards and administrations make the right decisions. That's the only way real change ever happens. So even though you and I might not see fully eye-to-eye on the place of sports in education, we need to be able to find common ground and work towards it. Asking the question is a great start!