ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, January 16, 1996 TAG: 9601160050
SECTION: EDITORIAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
"THERE IS a lot more attention on inside things than there was 10 years ago."
What a frightening assessment.
Ten years ago was only 1986. We're not talking about pre-television, or even pre-Donkey Kong days. For decades now, kids have spent a whole lot of time cocooned in comfortable bedrooms, communing with personal television sets - time that would have been spent outdoors, back in the good old days, playing sandlot baseball or riding bikes.
Now a physical-education teacher at one of Roanoke's elementary schools notes "a lot more attention on inside things" while discussing the abysmal performance of the city's fourth- and fifth-graders on fitness tests. Only 27 percent passed all four tests last spring - which doesn't put them far out of line with peers in other school districts. Statewide, only 35 percent passed in 1994, and the percentage went down as the grade levels being tested went up.
The schools superintendent has set ambitious goals for improving the pass rate in the city, and has asked for money in next year's budget to hire additional elementary physical-education teachers. This is a wise move. But significant improvement will depend on changes beyond adding a few P.E. classes to the school day.
P.E. teachers have started assigning homework: exercises to do while watching TV. This beats no physical activity at all, and is an acknowledgment, if not an approbation, of today's lifestyle. But it, too, is way short of ideal. There's little opportunity for developing people skills or building friendships while doing sit-ups in front of the tube.
The number of seriously overweight American children from ages 6 to 17 has more than doubled, to 11 percent from 5 percent, since the 1960s. Why? Researchers point to high-calorie snacks and inactive activities: watching TV, playing video games, spending time on personal computers.
The killer of the four-part fitness test is doing pull-ups - two for boys, one for girls - a test of upper-body strength. Maybe a heavier mouse would build strong bodies as they drag cursors across computer screens. Better yet for kids: Get outdoors.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB