This picture is from the 1960s.
The President's Council on Youth Fitness was formed, actually by Eisenhower, but President Kennedy took it very seriously, mandating physical education classes in schools.
Growing up in the 60s, I remember PE very well. We all knew that President Kennedy was the reason we had to have PE in school. Volleyball, basketball, pull ups, running, even rope climbing.
Our 13 year-old granddaughter is in middle school. She has no breaks between classes, no recess, and definitely no physical education. They don't leave the building all day, no fresh air, sunshine, no sitting on the bleachers, no walking around the football field.
So why do the schools no longer have physical education? The state of the nation - physically - is in worse shape than ever, but the PE classes have dwindled down to nothing.
Sure the academic classes are important, but can't we balance our priorities a little better?
Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity. ~ John F. Kennedy
~picture (click to enlarge) from JFK in History
