Importance of Physical Education in Middle School

Youths face easy access to sedentary activities such as playing video games or excessive computer use while physical activity is overlooked. Middle school students are developing their attitudes toward physical education because they are transitioning into adulthood. Schools can participate in fostering positive lifestyles among middle school students by including physical education classes to encourage social development, reduce rates of life-threatening diseases, promote lifelong health, improve students' academic abilities and overall well-being and increase physical fitness necessary for development.

Social Development

• Rugby promotes social bonding.

  Physical education classes can include team sports and activities requiring students to cooperate in working towards a common goal. Group activity promotes social bonding across racial and economic barriers because students focus on the game rather than maintaining exclusive cliques, which is common in middle school. Participating in physical activity also teaches students to have greater awareness of their own bodies, and when accompanied by health classes, helps educate students on the physical and emotional changes experienced during adolescence.

Reduce Rates of Life-Threatening Diseases

• In the Michigan Governor's Council on Physical Fitness, Health and Sports, Dr. James M. Pivarnik indicates that children who are overweight and live sedentary lifestyles are more likely to develop chronic diseases. Historically, physical activity has been prescribed for the management of chronic diseases such as asthma, cystic fibrosis and diabetes by health practitioners, who perceive a link between exercise and improved health.

Promotes Lifelong Health

• Health conscious adult.

  In structuring physical education into students' daily routines, exercise becomes essential to a healthy and positive lifestyle. Dr. Pivarnik states that "adult physical activity patterns and aerobic fitness can often be traced to childhood." This connection between childhood and adulthood fitness levels demonstrates the importance of encouraging students to lead active lifestyles during youth, including middle school, so that they carry those positive habits into adulthood.

Benefits Reach Beyond Immediate Physical Fitness

• Reduced instances of tobacco use.

  According to a statement from the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association of Physical Health, students who engage in habitual physical activity show improvements in "academic performance and cognitive ability" while reducing risks of "tobacco use, insomnia, depression and anxiety." Beginning physical education classes in middle school, or earlier, can aid in these developments at that early stage of students' lives.

Promotion of Physical Fitness

• The primary reason physical education matters is that it deals with physical fitness. Middle school students have to deal with the onset of puberty, which includes changes in their bodies. Exercise develops and strengthens the body, giving students a foundation for physical growth and development. By enhancing motor skills, coordination, stamina and agility, physical activity allows the body to deal with the physical changes associated with adolescence in an easier fashion.