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Unfortunately, the case for PE has never been more pressing. For countless reasons--bad diet, excessive time spent at computers and even safety concerns about playing outdoors--kids are more sedentary than ever. The number of obese kids ages six to 17 has doubled in the past 30 years. For the first time, Type 2 (adult onset) diabetes is being diagnosed in kids, and it now accounts for 1 of every 3 newly diagnosed juvenile diabetics. Physical confidence has been proved to be critical to self-esteem for youths, especially preadolescent girls. And researchers say the price tag for medical care for obesity-related diseases, about $100 billion a year, may get steeper. "You are more likely to be an obese adult if you're obese as a kid," says David Ludwig, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children's Hospital in Boston. "And if you're a sedentary child, you're more likely to be a sedentary adult."
New-PE enthusiasts feel their approach is the best hope for the future, and it's easy to see why. Teachers don't discourage competitive team sports, but they don't allow any kid to sit and watch either. A lesson on basketball skills might involve groups of two-on-two. High schoolers can choose from such activities as Ultimate Frisbee, mountain biking and white-water rafting. Sportsmanship is rewarded; humiliation is unacceptable. Whereas old gym teachers often saw PE as a way to scout varsity jocks, new ones teach a range of cognitive and physical topics, including muscle development, nutrition and cardiovascular fitness. They also tend to be inclusive and strikingly sensitive to their increasingly overscheduled charges.
New Jersey PE teacher Andy Schmidt, named a 2000 Teacher of the Year by the National Association for Sport and Physical Education (NASPE), pioneered the "movement education" program for younger kids at the A.B. Smith School in Hillsdale, N.J. (Think giggling nine-year-olds chasing one another around the room, checking their pulses, flexing biceps at a wellness "station," then chatting about everything from cholesterol to protein to hamstrings.) Now at the area's middle school, he asks older kids to take the same skills further. "I have the best job in the world," says Schmidt. "Not everyone is going to want to play a sport. The key is to get them to think healthy and have fun moving."
The benefits can go beyond fun. Ryan Cooper, a seventh-grader in Gardner, Kans., used to get teased by classmates for being shy and overweight. During his four years with grade-school PE teacher KaCee Chambers, whom he credits with encouraging and motivating him, he went from not being able to do a single pull-up to setting the school record. Says Ryan, who also lost 10% of his body fat: "I don't take anything from anyone now!" In Naperville, Lawler recently detected unusually high cholesterol levels in one three-sport middle school athlete, who got medical attention and altered his (and his family's) fatty diet.
Despite the obvious need for and benefit of PE, the battle to restore it to schools is still very much uphill. "There are only six hours in the average student's day," says NASPE's executive director, Judith Young. "We're often considered an elective, so now we find ourselves competing with technology and language lab."