The status of the fitness goals in physical education in the USA
with reference to the requests by society in general since the 1980's
2000 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 1-17
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2000 Volume 20 Issue 1 Pages 1-17
The status of the fitness goals in physical education in the USA.: with reference to the requests by society in general since the 1980's.
Physical education professionals have become aware the role of national fitness and have tended to regard the fitness goals as more important in the USA since the 1980's. The purpose of this study was to discuss the status of the fitness goals in physical education by looking at the social factors which influenced their status, the Standards for Physical Education, and reviews by various reserchers. The results were as follows;
1. Educational reforms since the 1980's have given rise to the tendency of adding importance to academic subjects and have brought the decline of the level of physical education. “Physical” is recognized as the identity of physical education and increased attention is again being focused on this word in order to resolve the crisis.
2. The issues of health and fitness have been recognized as serious, nation wide problems. Several Surgoen General reports and recomendations by related academies called for an increased positive role of physical education.
3. The National Standards for Physical Education published by NASPE in 1995 strongly focused on fitness standards. Psycho-moter, cognitive, physical, affective and social development have been traditional goals of physical education, with the addition of physical activity, itself now being realized as a primary goal.
4. Various reserchers regard fitness as important. This change in understanding about the needs of fitness and of social changes have placed a new level of responsiblity on the role of fitness. Further more, various reserchers suggested fitness programs have changed their emphasis from high level fitness training to improvement in attitudes about the needs of fitness, knowledge base and the requirement of independent ongoing physical activities related to fitness throughout our lifetime.
