It seems that the old complaint about America’s youth may be ringing true. “You spend too much time playing video games and not enough time playing sports, getting exercise, and being social with children your age.” Well, according to a new study, there has been a 150% increase in injuries during physical education classes between 1997 and 2007. Many claim this is due to our children being too unfit to handle the physical requirements of gym class anymore. Many say that it is the substandard supervision from Physical Education teachers that’s causing the children’s unnecessarily injuries. The bottom line is children are unable to handle Phys. Ed. the way they used to, and, whatever the reason, this should be the whistle call of necessary reform. If students can’t applaud without pulling a muscle, direct action must be taken immediately, although at this rate, it seems there are very few things to be clapping for.

A 150% increase in gym class injury. It is through the door that is forced open by this statistic that we must rediscover the treasure of cardiovascular health. Yet, for far too long, we’ve let our children outlive this innate impulse to run around and explore their physical limits. Evidence of this is demonstrated by the reaction of many officials who absorb this statistic as a drawback in the movement to encourage more vigorous exercise at school. A greater untruth could not be adopted. The reason the intensity levels were raised in the first place was because the nation’s young weren’t physically fit. To abandon it now because the reality of our nation’s lack of fitness displayed itself would be totally counter to logic. It would be akin to ditching an initiative to make math testing harder when the results show that students are failing these more rigorous exams. Of course the failure rate will be higher. Such is the point of making the weeding out process more demanding. We must use this as an opportunity to teach our children to learn lessons from failure – to work and play harder, not softer.

Along with ensuring that our children are in shape, we must also work hard to make sure the men and women that guide and guard our children at school are fit for the position of teacher. According to the author of the study, Lara McKenzie, “Children got hurt by running into equipment or having contact with structures or other persons. They had heat stroke, fainting and heart palpitations.” Also, a decline in school nurses is making treatable injuries turn into ones requiring a hospital visit. Furthermore, because some school districts don’t even require certification for their physical education teachers, more children are not being supervised well enough. Some gym teachers are regular classroom teachers who are not qualified to react to situations where specialized PE training is necessary.

The study, found in the September issue of Pediatrics, explains that “researchers analyzed emergency room reports of P.E.-related injuries in children, ages 5 to 18. The data came from 100 representative U.S. hospitals taking part in surveillance for the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. Nearly 12,000 injuries from those hospitals during the 11 years. From that, they calculated a national estimate of nearly 37,000 annual injuries on average, with fewer than 30,000 in 1997 and climbing to more than 60,000 injuries a year by 2007.” A combination of soft standards for teachers and students when it comes to physical fitness has led to these hard to swallow statistics. It’s time to make a change.

Students have traded in a stickball bat for a joystick. The Wii controller is the tennis racquet that they feel swings smoothest. Somehow the computer keyboard is now the only key to escaping boredom. The adults of this fattening nation should use the 150% increase as the most powerful single rebuttal of our high-caloric lifestyle. Our freedom of choice is becoming a weapon of mass destruction when coupled with a nutritional apathy, and our children are representing the unforgiveable collateral damage of indifference. Furthermore, we are not committing our nation’s schools to a standard equal to what we require of our children. Physical education teachers must be certified and well trained if they are going to guide our students. Nurses must be available at all times in order to care for an injury and diagnose a health issue. Do you want to be part of the movement for more movement in our children’s lives? Get in the game. Check out a physical education or nursing program today.