When parents of school-age children recall their own high school physical education classes, many remember that there were single-sex classes and that sometimes the physical activity took place only when a gym teacher threw a basketball out to the class and yelled, “Play ball!”
In the physical education classes of the ’90s, it is much more likely that there will be 25 students dribbling 25 basketballs and working on their individual skills.
And while basketball and football may still be among the offerings, such individualized programs as fitness and weight training are becoming commonplace. At high schools throughout the southwest suburbs, students, especially juniors and seniors, are likely to be offered a variety of electives ranging from weight management to outdoor adventure, often in a co-ed environment.
“Three years ago we did a survey of our staff, administrators and students,” said Ron Kyler, curriculum coordinator for physical education, health and driver’s education at Oak Lawn Community School District 218. “We asked them what they liked and disliked.”
Based on the survey, the curriculum added fitness programs such as aerobics to traditional activities like basketball and volleyball.
At three of the district’s high schools, scuba diving is a popular physical education class. Another popular offering is outdoor education, which includes bicycling, outdoor cooking and climbing.
“Under the traditional program, we never went on field trips,” he said, “but we have bicycled all the way to Kankakee State Park, camped overnight and cooked our own food. We have gone climbing in Mississippi Palisades State Park.”
The climbing activities have helped the students in more than physical fitness, Kyler said. “It involves teamwork; you have to trust each other,” he said.
The most popular class, he said, is the one-semester cardio-respiratory strength class, a class in which the students work on a variety of aerobic machines and with free weights and universal weights.
“The students think they are physically fit now,” he said, “but when they turn 25, 26 or 27, they realize that their bodies are changing and they understand the benefits of physical fitness.”
Ron Helms, physical education division head at Evergreen Park High School in Evergreen Park, said that one of the biggest challenges P.E. teachers face is motivating students. “There needs to be an element of fun,” he said.
At his school, a variety of electives are offered, including paddleball-a game using tennis balls and paddles and played off a wall like racquetball-fencing and weight training. “Unless we give the students strategies for lifetime fitness, we don’t bring in creativity to the profession of physical educator.”
He said that during his 13 years as a physical education instructor, he has seen an evolution in girls’ participation.
“Girls are now participating in sports such as soccer and softball,” he said. “They have better opportunities at a younger age, and this is definitely carrying over.”
And the change in emphasis of high school physical education classes has trickled down to the elementary school level as well.
Leslie Pawlowski teaches physical education to kindergarten students at Doctor School in Orland Park.
“The big emphasis is trying to do everything with all the kids involved,” she said. “I don’t do anything if all can’t be doing it.”
She said that there is never a time when she has half the class sitting down while the other half is involved. Everyone moves.
“We’ve gotten away from games,” she said, “but we still play them; the kids still need them.”
Many of the activities, she said, help children improve hand-eye coordination.
“We are not trying to turn out clones, but children who understand their level and work at that level,” said Lani Graham, program coordinator for the National Association for Sports and Physical Education in Reston, Va.
“We focus not on competition against each other but competition against oneself,” Graham said. “We are moving toward a focus on developmentally appropriate physical education. Within a group of 10-year-old children, for instance, some are at an 8-year-old stage of development, others are at the 12-year-old stage.”
“The new trend is toward lifetime fitness-activities students can do for the rest of their lives,” said Suzanne Crouch, director of special events for the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance in Reston, Va.
Buff Toneman, president of the Illinois Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, a 3,000-member organization, and a physical education teacher at Oak Elementary School in Hinsdale, said, “You can’t have them come to class and stand in line. They all should be active.”
By changing attitudes about fitness, the revamped physical education classes can be important in helping students achieve fitness as a preventive health-care measure, physical education teachers say.
In addition, they serve as a means for students to release tensions and gain socialization skills.
Whether it means not having to hit the books hard, or getting a chance to run around, physical education still evokes a variety of reactions in students.
“It’s better than a regular class because you get to run around,” said Pete Howaniec, 13, of Oak Forest, an 8th-grade student at Central Junior High School in Tinley Park. “Sometimes it is hard though, because we have to do sit-ups, and it’s hard to do 50.”
As his older sister will tell him, high school will present its own challenges.
“We play volleyball and do aerobics, which I don’t mind,” said Samantha Howaniec, 16, a junior at Carl Sandburg High School in Orland Park, “but I hate swimming laps!”
Teachers generally report that their students react favorably to classes stressing individual skills, but those students who don’t care for physical education are living in the wrong state.
Illinois is the only state in the country to mandate four years of high school physical education. Kyler has mixed feelings about that.
“Obviously I am an advocate of it; it forces students to take it daily,” he said, “but the teachers know the kids will be there; they become complacent, teaching the same way they did 20 years ago, and don’t make the class more interesting.”
