FUTURE OF PHYSICAL EDUCATION
What will our world be like in the future? What will physical education and sport be like in the twenty-first century? What do we want the future to be? To make the most of the future means planning and knowing to some extent what the future will be like. The future of physical education is coming-but only physical educators can decide where it is going.
Human beings have always been interested in the future. Today numerous “think tanks” such as the Rand Corporation and the Hudson Institute, and futurists, individuals who study the future, endeavor to unravel the mysteries of the years ahead.
Futurists attempt, using a variety of techniques, to describe the future. They try to predict the course of past and current trends and identify the consequences of selected courses of action. Futurists attempt to define priorities that will lead to a future of our choice. Future studies imply the identification of both desirable and undesirable outcomes. The futurist must assume the responsibility for seeking the alternative that creates a future as close as possible to the desired outcomes. recognizing that change is ever present, certain trends and developments can be identified that lend themselves to a better understanding of the future of physical education and sport. These trends and developments include the wellness movement, the fitness movement, the educational reform movement and the changing nature of education, the expanding frontiers of the habitable universe, and technological advances.
The Wellness Movement
The wellness movement represents one of the most opportune moments in our history. The wellness movement stresses self-help and emphasizes that one’s life-style-the way in which one lives- influences greatly the attainment and maintenance of personal health. This movement supports efforts directed to ward health promotion and disease prevention rather than focusing on the treatment of illness. The wellness doctrine is based on the premise that it is the responsibility of the individual to work to ward achievement of a healthy life-style to realize an optimal sense of well-being. A healthy life-style should reflect the integration of three components-proper nutrition, regular and appropriate physical activity and exercise, and stress management-and the elimination of controllable risk factors (e.g., smoking, excessive alcohol consumption).
Strong support for health promotion and disease prevention efforts was given by the two national health reports Healthy People and Objectives for the Nation. Healthy People identified exercise and fitness as one of fifteen priority areas that could have a significant impact on the attainment of health. Objectives for the Nation delineated specific fitness and exercise goals for all segments of the population that should be achieved by 1990. Whether these goals are achieved depends on physical educators’ willingness to make a commitment to meeting these goals and working cooperatively with other professionals toward their attainment.
The corporate sector has also become interested in the wellness movement. This has led to the development of corporate fitness and wellness programs for the employees. Corporations are willing to invest in these programs because they have found that they result in increased employee productivity, decreased absenteeism, better employee health, and lower insurance costs.
Physical education can make a significant contribution to the wellness movement in many ways. Physical education can provide individuals with the skills and knowledge to exercise properly: help individuals develop abilities in a variety of sport activities that are meaningful and satisfying, thus promoting lifetime participation and teach individuals a variety of stress management techniques.
Fitness Movement
Enthusiasm for exercise and fitness is at an all-time high in the United States today and will continue to increase in the future. Sales of sport equipment, apparel, and home exercise equipment have reached astronomical levels. The number of individuals participating in exercise and sport activities continues to rise, and it appears that exercise and fitness have become an ingrained way of American life. This enthusiasm is reaching all segments of the population. The positive effects of remaining active throughout one’s life have motivated many adults to embark on a fitness program and millions of others to continue their participation past the typical stopping point, the end of the school years. While more adults than ever before appear to be actively engaged in physical activity, there is some concern that the fitness movement is not reaching the youth of this country. The recently completed National Children and Youth Fitness Study substantiated this concern. The study revealed that youths have become fatter since 1960. Only about one-third of the students participated in daily physical education programs. Secondary school physical education programs were found to focus largely on competitive and team sports rather than on the development of individual and lifetime sport skills that can be used by adults for participation throughout their lifespan. The report also indicated that 80% of the physical activity of the students was performed outside of the school setting, primarily in community programs.
Physical educators need to assume a more active role in the leadership of the fitness movement. At the vanguard of the movement are physicians, self-appointed experts, and even movie stars. Many of these individuals lack the proper training and qualifications to direct this activity Professionals must actively strive to assume a leadership role in this movement. Physical educators also need to make a concerted effort to help the fitness movement reach the youth of this country. Physical educators working in the school setting should provide students with the skills and knowledge necessary to assume the responsibility for their own fitness throughout their lifespan. Finally, physical educators must become more involved in physical education programs in nonschool settings, serving a diversity of populations.
Education
Cries for educational reform have pervaded the United states within the past few years. Advocates of reform have called for a greater emphasis on the basics such as English, math, social studies, computer science, and science. The status of physical education in the school curriculum has been subjected to much debate. Some educators perceive physical education as an extra or a frill and would eliminate physical education from the curriculum. Other educators view physical education as an integral part of the educational process. To solidify the place of physical education in the educational curriculum in the coming decade, physical educators must clearly and articulately set forth why physical education is an integral part of the educational program of every educational institution. Physical educators must generate support for physical education in the curriculum by conducting sound, exemplary programs and by informing the public, legislators, and other decision makers about the contribution of physical education to the educational process. Physical educators must also stress that physical education teaches individuals skills that contribute to well-being throughout the student’s lifetime.
For years education was considered preparation for life. Now it is looked on as a lifelong experience. More than 2 million persons 35 years of age or older are returning to school or beginning their higher education. Alvin Toffler in his book, The Third Wave, stresses that the aging or “graying” population implies a need for much greater public attention to the needs of the elderly.
Lewis stated that the rapid acceleration and growth of technology, the information era, and demographic shifts will have a tremendous impact on the nature of education and our society. He writes that it is of paramount importance that all students acquire the basic skills of reading, writing, and computing. Students must be able to access information, analyze it, synthesize it, and apply information in a meaningful manner. Educators must also teach students how to be lifelong learners and to assume responsibility for their own learning.
Changes in the nature of the school structure will occur as we enter the 1990s. Futurist Marvin Cetron, president of Forecasting International Inc, stated that students may spend only three days a week in school. Students would spend the other days at home being educated through interactive cable television. Textbooks will be supplanted by computers: this will provide students with information that is current and is regularly updated. Cable television will be used more widely. The use of cable television will allow students at several schools to receive instruction from a central source. This will help equalize the quality of education provided to all students. Adults will regularly return to school to keep abreast of rapidly growing advances in knowledge and technology in their fields.
What are the implications of the educational reform movement and the changing nature of the structure of the school for physical education? First, to retain physical education as an integral part of the educational curriculum in the future, physical educators must clearly set forth the contribution of physical education to the educational process. To solidify the place of physical education in the educational curriculum in the next decade, physical educators must educate the public and decision makers about the values to be derived from participation in physical education, both in terms of the education and the health of the individual. Physical educators can generate support for physical education in the schools by conducting sound, exemplary programs.
Second, as more adults return to school to update their skills, physical educators need to be ready to conduct instructional programs to meet adult needs. Third, just as education must teach students to be lifelong learners, so must physical education. Students in physical education class need to learn knowledge as well as skills so that they may be self-educative. Finally, as more and more education takes place out of the classroom in the home, physical educators need to establish instructional programs in the community. These programs should be designed to meet the needs of individuals of all ages. More services need to be provided for the elderly, particularly as recognition of the ability of physical activity and exercise to enhance the quality of an individual’s life increases. 해외스포츠중계
Expanding Frontiers
The frontiers of the habitable universe are expanding. People in the future may be living as part of a space station colony or on a moon base. The work of the astronauts and the NASA programs has laid the basis for the future in respect to space travel. Space travel may become commonplace in the future. Citizens will be able to purchase a ticket for space travel in the space shuttle much in the same way they purchase a ticket for airline travel.
The July 1976 issue of National Geographic visualizes the outcome of a serious proposal that was developed by a group of 30 engineers and social and physical scientists. They describe what a typical colony in space will be like. Ten thousand people, their mission to build more colonies, will live under artificial gravity in an encircling tube called a torus. The torus is divided into six separate sections each of which has supermarket, farming and residential areas and such facilities as theaters, sport arenas, schools, and libraries. Sunlight is filtered and dispersed by means of mirrors that can be tilted to produce an 8-hour night every 24hours. Farming is very productive as a result of controlled sunlight, an unfailing water supply, ample fertilizer, equable temperature, and a somewhat higher carbon dioxide content in the air than on Earth. The crop yields are many times of those on Earth.
A second area of the habitable universe that will be an especially exciting place to live in the future is under water. Since more than two-thirds of the planet is covered with ocean, there will be sufficient room to construct many underwater communities. Futurist Rosen reports on the work of scientist William Backley who has developed a submerged capsule equipped with observation ports that is a model for future underwater communities. A superstructure to the capsule has a helicopter landing pad and docking facilities for surface craft. The capsule is held in place by anchors and is made stable by a concrete mat suspended beneath the unit. An airlock and elevator offer easy access either to the ocean floor or to the surface. Backley’s work represents a model for the construction of a future underwater colony that will have residential areas, farming, and other facilities comparable to those that will exist in space.
Physical educators need to prepare themselves to assist individuals to attain their optimal level of fitness while living in these space and underwater environments. Space travelers to distant planets need help in keeping fit while living for long periods of time under conditions of zero gravity. Physical educators must conduct research concerning the effects of weightlessness on the body and artificial gravity. Designing exercise programs to deal with differences in the environment falls within the realm of the physical educator. 무료스포츠중계
Technology
This decade is one of rapid technological advances. Many of these technological advances hold implications for the future of physical education and sport. We have entered the computer era. Developments in computer technology combined with increasingly sophisticated research techniques have enabled us to widen the base of knowledge in physical education and will contribute to further growth in the future. Computer technology has facilitated biomechanical analysis of performance. Computer-generated graphical representations of prototypical sport performance will enhance the development of motor skills. Computers have also enabled researchers to better understand brain activity during learning, and subsequently design more effective instructional strategies: perhaps in the future physical educators will be able to predict with a great deal of certainty learning outcomes. The increased availability of personal computers will allow the practitioner to analyze individuals performances such as fitness tests and to keep up-to-date records easier than ever before.
Developments in the field of communication hold promise for the future of physical education and sport.
Cable television is growing rapidly. The number of special interest programs presented on cable television is increasing as well. Sports programs are offered 24 hours a day. Naisbitt writes in regards to the future of cable television: “Cable television will be like special interest magazines: You will be able to tune into Runner’s World ”
Videotape equipment has become easier to use, and provides a valuable instructional tool for physical educators in all settings. Video cassette recorders are experiencing phenomenal growth: many individuals are investing in exercise videotapes so that they can work out in the privacy of their own home and at their convenience. In the future instructional tapes for different sport skills will help individuals learn at home at their own pace.
Developments in biotechnology hold implications for the future of physical education and sport. Today muscle fiber typing allows researchers to identify whether an individual has a greater potential to succeed in athletic events requiring strength or endurance. Perhaps in the near future genetic engineering will be used to program an individual’s genes for success in certain sport activities.
Advances in technology have led to improvements in sport equipment, facilitating better performances by both skilled and unskilled persons. Graphite-composite tennis rackets have begun to replace metal and metal-composite tennis rackets, which replaced wooden rackets years ago. Pole vaulters using fiberglass poles have attained heights previously only dreamed about by vaulters using wooden poles. Technology applied to the manufacturing of running shoes has led to increased comfort and fewer injuries for runners of all abilities. Grass fields are being replaced by artificial surfaces, cinder tracks by all-weather tracks, and open stadiums by domed arenas. There are numerous examples of how technology has affected physical education and sport, and the influence of technology on physical education and sport will continue in the future. 스포츠중계
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