A Case To Fund Fitness Programs In Schools
A Case To Fund Fitness Programs in Schools:
Humans are social creatures. And sports and physical activities are important and positive elements that greatly contribute to society at large. About forty five years ago we had The President’s Council on Physical Fitness, it was the law of the land (at least in our school). In short, we had to go outside and play when we were at school. There was no epidemic of obesity and there were no heavily publicized mass shootings in schools (with few exceptions like Speck and Whitman in 1966, and Kent State in 1970). Kids did not play violent video games on their phones and computers in total isolation, instead they played outside with their actual real-life friends and watched shows like Star Trek and The Brady Bunch on one of basically four TV channels.
Now there is way too much media coverage of crime. We have entire TV channels devoted to 24 hour crime scene investigations. Sociopathic individuals who commit mass murder have a severe underlying personality disorder and are often loners attracted to the media notoriety involved in their crimes.
In his book, Bowling Alone, renowned social scientist Robert D. Putnam notes that social capital is declining in the United States due to “individualizing” the ways we spend our leisure time. We are starting to lack real communities. When people feel isolated in the extreme they can get detached and lack any normal empathy for their fellow man. They can begin to think of people as objects. That is terrifying.
Sports build character, increase confidence, motivate kids to stay in school and aim for higher education and keep them engaged, so they are not just sitting around in isolation watching a screen and devising ways to take people out. Physical activity, face to face social interaction and healthy foods are the best antidepressants available to man.
Our Federal Government has cut billions of dollars in funding to school athletic programs in recent years. Here is what we have now: https://www.fitness.gov/resource-center/facts-and-statistics/
No matter what your politics, you must on some level feel the frustration of our elected President that this mass killing dilemma has to be addressed and addressed quickly. https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/02/politics/obama-gun-control-oregon-shooting/
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims of these all too frequent American tragedies.
