Health and Weight Research Paper

The apparently fragmented state of scientific opinion about physical activity levels must also be seen in relation to other scientific debates. For example, considerable uncertainty exists concerning whether inactivity causes overweight and obesity or whether, conversely, (for whatever reason) overweight and obesity lead to lower levels of activity, as Hill and Melanson suggested (516). Perhaps even more importantly, because the precise relationship between physical activity and health remains poorly understood, conclusions about the health effects of long-term physical activity trends (whether they are going up or down) would seem even more speculative.

 

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In this context it is interesting to note the way some obesity scientists have both blamed alleged decreases in physical education for the ‘obesity epidemic’ as well as seeing physical education as a potential cure (Booth et al 372; Hill 518). There is also now a small literature consisting of studies, which have tried to measure the amount of physical activity children do in physical education classes. Leaving to one side those studies that have been part of intervention programs explicitly designed to increase physical activity, the findings of these studies have been reasonably consistent, as for McKenzie and Marshall (253). In general, physical education lessons are found not to provide children with the amounts and kinds of physical activity that scientists deem sufficient to enhance health (bearing in mind that we have no data to determine what these amounts and kinds might be).

On the other hand, these studies report a wide range in the frequency, duration and intensity of physical activity during physical education lessons. Some children, according to McKenzie and Feldman (187), apparently get large amounts of physical education; boys and children from more affluent families appear to derive more opportunities for physical activity than other children.

We have no data from earlier periods of history, which would help us to make a comparison between physical education classes of different eras. Furthermore, some contemporary data suggests that children tend to derive the bulk of their recreational physical activity outside of school time (Booth et al 373). So despite reports that some (but by no means all) schools are devoting less time to physical education, it is not at all clear what the implication of this is. It is hard to see how the small amounts of physical activity that appear to happen during classes might affect average body weights one way or the other, a point that applies equally to individual students as it does to national populations.

In addition, the preoccupation of scientific researchers with measuring the time children spend walking, running and sitting down during physical education may be counterproductive. If the purpose of physical education is to encourage lifelong participation in physical activity, then it is not difficult to see how highly physically demanding classes, particularly those that focus on fitness, might have the opposite affect to the one desired. For example, Hopple and Graham (410) proved that when it focuses on physical fitness and activity for activity’s sake, children are much less likely to enjoy physical education.

To put the point simply, it is possible that many children do not view the issue of childhood fitness with quite the same urgency as some adults and will resent these anxieties being visited upon them. This may be particularly true for those students whom scientific researchers see as needing to do more physical activity. What is telling about obesity science’s sudden interest in physical education is that it seldom acknowledges that others have been researching the subject for some time and may have useful things to contribute about children and physical activity.

Twenty years of sustained physical education scholarship has contributed to sophisticated curricula and programs that aim to develop skills, knowledge and attitudes to help students enjoy a wide range of recreational and sporting activities during and beyond school. However, in the context of an ‘obesity epidemic’, where principals, teachers, parents, health promoters, doctors and scientists see children’s body weight as the primary health concern, physical education is often reduced to the most efficient and rudimentary means of burning energy. For example, some obesity scientists like McKenzie and Marshall (256) really do claim that good quality physical education experiences are ones in which children burn lots of calories, an idea that surely derives from the vision of the body as a machine, rather than a serious consideration with the social, cultural and emotional lives of children.

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