I Learned That In Health Class

Laurie Bjorn

“I don’t get no respect” was a line made famous by Rodney Dangerfield, but I sometimes feel like it could be my teaching motto. I have been a Health and Physical Education teacher for the past eighteen years—fifteen at the high school level and the past three at a junior high school—and the recurring theme is that these are two of the most misunderstood courses in schools today.

On a daily basis, I find myself justifying what I teach to my students. “Why do we have to take health—why can’t we just ‘do gym’ instead?” Probably the most futile conversations I have had with students (and some teachers) have to do with the ongoing semantics go-round about why I prefer it be called “physical education” rather than “gym”. Physical education takes place in the gym, I tell them. If teachers in other disciplines correctly referred to it as a physical education class, rather than “gym,” whenever they are talking to their students, would that not help to give the class more credence?

The fact that PE & Health teachers actually have college degrees also seems to be an anomaly to many of my students. One student was stunned when I told him that yes, I too had gone through four years of college to earn a degree in teaching, just like all of his other teachers. “Just to be a gym teacher?” he asked, his jaw dropping in amazement. I decided I would stop there and not bother to mention that I was also pursuing a master’s degree; I didn’t want him to send him over the edge!

Television and the movies certainly do not help the cause either. In the movies, most male “gym” teachers are portrayed as the stereotypical “dumb jocks” with a whistle around their necks chasing pretty girls, and female PE teachers are usually typecast as mean, ugly dictators with masculine characteristics. Both male and female teachers are, more often than not, shown making their students do calisthenics in “gym” class, or many times just sitting around, and never having a clue about what their students are doing, getting total disrespect from their students, and looking like idiots. When was the last time you saw a television program or a motion picture depicting a health or physical education teacher as a respected, attractive, enthusiastic professional committed to motivating and inspiring her students?

The entertainment industry aside, a few conversations in particular stand out as I think back on statements I have heard from my students, colleagues, and parents that typify lack of understanding of Health & Physical Education’s place in the curricula. I think they are fairly accurate examples that show the myriad of misconceptions many people in our society hold about H & PE and its “place” in the curriculum.

The first statement, made by a former student, was made to me as I was leaving my classroom after a long afternoon of teacher in-service. The students had been dismissed earlier that day, at noon, and our workshop ended around 3:00pm. As I was walking through the gymnasium, one of my students, who had just arrived for basketball practice, said hello to me, and asked me what I was still doing at school. When I explained that we had a teacher in-service day, he looked at me and asked, “Aren’t those just for teachers?” A little confused, I said, “Yes.” He looked at me, very seriously, and asked, “So why do you need to be here?” He was not joking; he was perfectly serious. When I asked him what he meant by that, he went on to say that he did not realize that ‘gym’ teachers were “real teachers”. This is not the first time I have heard this, nor will it be the last. I have heard it from students, from parents, and even from other teachers.

The second comment came from a teacher in my building. I happened to be interviewing her as part of a project I was doing for my master’s degree. During the conversation, we were discussing opportunities for teachers in our district to go to regional conferences or workshops. She mentioned that it was helpful to gather good ideas from other teachers about things they do in their classrooms—but, she was sure to clarify, “I mean teachers of “core subjects—not gym teachers, because even I could go down to the gym and teach that for a day”.

Another enlightening moment that let me in on a parent’s point of view came one day recently in my Health class. I was passing homework papers back to my eighth grade students when I overheard a conversation between two of my students. One, when he received his paper, asked his friend why he never did any homework, and the friend replied, “My mom doesn’t care—she said Health class is retarded anyways.” I continued teaching the class, and as students were leaving, I asked the student who made the comment to stay for a minute, and politely confronted him about the conversation that took place earlier. I asked him if the words I overheard were “his words, or his mother’s words?” I told him if they were his mother’s, then perhaps I needed to call her and clarify what she said. He admitted that although his mother didn’t use the word “retarded”, she did say that she thought it was “stupid” to give a grade in Health class, because it’s “just Health; it’s not a real class.” so there is no reason to give grades. He went on to say that his mother would be satisfied as long as he passed the class, even if he only got a “C”—this from a student who was pulling “A’s” in all of his other classes.

This particular incident made me wonder about possible connections between the overwhelmingly mediocre attitude placed upon H & P.E. in the curriculum, and the alarming increase in health problems in our society in the past two decades. We have a whole generation of youth who are dealing with escalating problems with depression, obesity, egotism, violent behavior, family dysfunctions, stress-related illnesses, social deficiencies, poverty and addictions. Our “teen nation” is currently in a health crisis, yet two key programs that could help reduce and possibly even eliminate some of these problems, are nonexistent or are being eliminated in some of our schools. In others, H & PE classes are not even being offered in the curriculum until sixth or seventh grade. In schools that do offer H & PE, an insufficient amount of time is allowed for them to be taught well. Some schools in our part of the state have done away with recess in the younger grades as well, taking away yet another opportunity for our youth to socialize and exercise. Students are needier than ever, but we are not meeting their needs.

We all know that students who are healthy are better learners. Teachers in my school have told me that their best classes are usually the ones that follow P.E. class—in general, students come into their classrooms energized, more focused, and with fewer behavior problems than in their other classes. I’ve seen the transformation happen so many times. A student will shuffle into the gymnasium at the beginning of class, grumbling about one thing or another, with a frown on her face. Less than an hour later, after an energizing physical education class, that same student will leave class laughing and smiling, with ‘pep in her step.’

At my school, students take Physical Education two different quarters in their eighth grade year. That means they have no P.E. (or health) at all for half the school year. They meet 2-3 times per week, which averages out to 20 classes per quarter, or about 40 classes per year. This means that they get about 2 hours per week of physical education for half the school year. Compare this to the number of hours they spend in front of a television or a computer every week, and the screen wins every time, especially if that student gets no other exercise or activity during the day. According to the Maine Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, it is recommended that elementary students participate in quality daily physical education programs: elementary students need 150 minutes per week, and middle/junior high and secondary high school students need a minimum of 225 minutes per week. We are not even close to that amount of time in our junior high school.

And that’s just physical education. In health education, life skills are naturally embedded within the curriculum. Health education provides students with the opportunity to learn and practice skills that will help them socially, emotionally, physically, intellectually, and spiritually as they lead their daily lives. However, the health curriculum in our schools, both in terms of depth and breadth of material covered, is woefully inadequate. How is it possible, in only 40 short class sessions per school year, some of which are taken up with mandatory testing and local assessments, to have adequate learning time?

Students need time to learn. When we approach new content areas, it takes time for them to absorb the information—students need occasions to discuss and practice the new topics and skills, and they need the freedom and flexibility to explore the content from all sides when learning about the various aspects of the issues. This is especially important when covering sensitive or “controversial” topics such as depression, suicide prevention, eating disorders, obesity, family life, abusive relationships, puberty, reproductive systems, sexually transmitted diseases, teenage pregnancy, abstinence, gateway drugs, or addiction.

However, it is equally important when learning about the other health issues. Non-communicable diseases, to take just one as an example, such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, asthma—are complicated, and take time to understand and learn. When students are learning about prevention, warning signs, and treatment, they need carryover from one class to the next, to not only understand the information but also to process it, use it in different ways, absorb it, and try it out. Since we do not meet every day, there are many instances where there are as many as 3-7 days in between classes. Much of the class time is spent reviewing information from the previous class. Many times I have to choose which sections of my curriculum to “dump” near the end of a quarter because we are running out of days in which to teach them.

When I reach the end of a ranking period, and I am left with only two or three classes, how do I choose between teaching suicide prevention and eating disorders? Do I fly through each one in order to cover both topics, although not cover them well, hoping that my students at least get the surface information? Or, do I select one to cover in depth? This is an ongoing dilemma for all teachers, not just H & PE teachers. So much to cover, so little time. However, in H & PE, since we have the students for only one-half the time as teachers in the “core” areas, and the students do not meet with us every day, we also lose that important factor of continuity that the other teachers have. And that is with students who are not absent from school, leaving your class for a band lesson, a visit to the nurse, the Guidance Counselor, or who are suspended from school. Therefore, the choice of which topic I decide to teach to my students seems all the more difficult.

At our junior high school, we have a department of four in H & PE: two seventh-grade teachers and two eighth. We meet several times a year to update each other on our curricula—where we are, what we are doing, the content areas we taught the students as well as those we did not get to cover. Many times we decide that if a content area is taught in the seventh grade, we will not cover it again in the eighth grade. Conversely, we decide that a few topics need to be taught in both grades, and we plan for that, all the while understanding that we are leaving out several important parts of our curriculum.

Can we not find creative ways to schedule H & PE into our school’s curriculum so that students can benefit from it on a daily basis, yet not at the expense of any of the other classes? The fact is, when we are forced to teach our students so much material in such a short time span, with classes spread out over several days, the quality of their education declines. We hurry past the teachable moments in favor of covering the scheduled curriculum. One of my most memorable classes was one in which I “threw the curriculum out the window” for the day and just “went with it,” when my students initiated a conversation that I will remember always.

It all began with an impassioned plea from a student who asked, “Why do we need to know this?” He was actually referring to the upcoming unit on the male and female reproductive systems. I threw the question right back at him and asked “Why do you think we need to know this?” What followed was one of the most incredible classes I have ever experienced as a health educator! Students took charge and led themselves in an exciting dialogue that covered many of the burning issues that were apparently weighing on their minds—all they needed was a forum in which to let it all out.

It was inspiring and affirming to me, as a teacher and as an adult two generations removed from my students, to see how maturely and respectfully they handled the (often heated) discussions that ensued. Terms such as abortion, homosexuality, diversity, tolerance, bigotry, religious beliefs, persecution, and racism were flying back and forth across the room, as students entered into discussions with their peers about things they see and hear every day, but seldom have the opportunity to talk about seriously. Arguments were defended vociferously and those thirteen and fourteen year-old students discussed opposing points of view with respect and sincerity. It was democracy at its finest! No hands were raised, yet students waited until others’ finished what they were saying before they spoke. Students spoke up often and articulately with high-quality arguments against the popular majority opinion. No put-downs were spoken, and no inappropriate words were heard. I simply stood in the background and clarified a few terms for them when they asked me to, watching and admiring their enthusiasm and passion about their personal beliefs.

It was a moment frozen in time, when no one asked to leave the room, no side conversations were going on, no one interrupted or walked into our classroom, and all twenty-four of these young citizens were focused on nothing but each other and the topics being discussed. When class ended and it was time to leave, students did not budge. They wanted to continue, and asked if they could skip their next class and keep going. Not sure if their teachers would appreciate that, I apologized that we had to end such a wonderful class, and praised them for their participation and contributions toward such an awesome learning experience! I told them that on that day, I learned as much as they did, and I was extremely proud of them.

As they were leaving our room, the P.E. teacher in the gym overheard a few comments such as “Wow!” “That was an awesome class!” “That was so cool!” She immediately came in to ask me what we had done in class that day to get them so fired up. I was just as fired up, and shared with her what had taken place.

It is classes such as this that come to mind when people ask me why I teach health and physical education. When students have the opportunity to take charge of their own learning, and find meaningful lessons in my classes that they can relate to, internalize, and hopefully store away some of those life skills they will undoubtedly use in the future, then I believe that is learning at its finest. What bothers me is that the opportunity to experience classes like this, those that really have an impact on students, is rare in schools that provide only the minimum for health and physical education.

I want my students to be able to fend for themselves once they are outside the protective barriers of school. If a young woman is faced with a potentially life-changing decision, such as whether or not to have sex for the first time, take that first drink of alcohol, smoke a joint, or get a tattoo, I want her to have the skills to make an informed decision. I want her to make that decision based upon accurate facts, thinking first of potential consequences before taking action. She can only possess those skills if she has had an opportunity to learn, practice, and hone them in a positive, fact-based, stimulating, safe environment—one such as the health classroom. I have seen the profitable results of such a comprehensive curriculum

If we as educators are hoping to prepare our students for a democratic society, then we need to stand up for what we believe are the necessary tools they need to learn, not what our legislators and policymakers would like us to believe. For years, health education has been marginalized in this country—our policymakers have governed from the standpoint that education should be preparing our students for their economic future, that we should be teaching them how to best perform in the workplace. Instead of teaching our youth how to take care of their bodies, how to get along and work cooperatively with others, how to be compassionate, how to take responsibility for the world around them, the driving force in our country right now is how well our students perform on tests and how well they function in reading, writing and arithmetic. The bottom line always seems to be the high-stakes testing and a daunting list of constantly changing performance standards.

What about the student as a person? What about the condition of their health? I currently have fourteen year-old students in my classroom who are extremely obese, and others who suffer from anorexia and bulimia. I have students who have high absenteeism due to asthma and diabetes, who are on one or more prescriptive medications for mental illness, who have restraining orders against other students in the school, who have been in jail, who have been suspended for over half the school year, who have been pregnant, who are being sexually abused at home, and the list goes on. Does it matter more that these students score well on their MEA tests, or that they learn effective prevention and coping skills in health class? What good will they be in the workforce if they can’t work in groups, are unable to communicate effectively, don’t know how to deal with stress, are not physically fit, do not respect themselves, have no compassion for others, and take no responsibility for the environment in which they live? These are all health-related issues that need to be taught in a comprehensive K-12 health curriculum in every school system in our country.

How can we change the way teachers, students, and parents think about health and physical education? One of my former students, during her graduation speech, was acknowledging some of the fear and anxiety felt by her fellow seniors that night as they prepared to cross the threshold to life after high school. She told her classmates not to be afraid of change. On the contrary, she said, they should embrace the opportunity to blaze new trails, pursue their dreams, and become productive citizens, because even though “change” is the biggest cause of all stress, we can learn to cope with the changes life throws at us in healthy ways, and often become stronger individuals in the process. By the way, as she noted in her speech, she learned this in her high school health class.

Discussion Questions:

Where do these “preconceived notions” about Health and Physical Education come from?
What do you feel is the best option for a junior high school health curriculum: to cover more topic areas in less detail (breadth), or cover fewer topic areas in more detail (depth)? Why do you feel this way?
What can Health and Physical Education professionals do to acquire more curriculum time in the school day schedule, or do you see this as an impossible task?
Have you ever experienced a “memorable” class like the one described in the case story? What did it look and sound like?

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