Physical Fitness at KU
Wednesday, Sept. 18, 1963 University Daily Kansan
Page 5
Fitness Needs Exist Despite RosyReport
On the whole, the progress report this summer of the President's Council on Physical Fitness was encouraging.
- Thirteen states have strengthened their physical education requirements through legislation or department of education regulation.
Those are but a few of the achievements pointed out by the Council. The physical fitness problem is still serious, however.
By Roy Miller (First of a Series)
- Thirty governors issued during 1962-63 special directives or messages instructing schools to strengthen their physical fitness programs.
California is the only state requiring every student to participate in a daily physical education period, for example. And, the situation is even more critical in the church-related schools where at least 35 per cent of all parochial schools offer no physical fitness programs at all.
Of the 26-million public school children in grades 4-12, nearly 20 million participated regularly in school physical fitness programs during the 1962-63 school year.
- Four of every five children tested in 1962-63 exceeded the minimum standards, as compared to only two of three children tested the previous year.
AT THE COLLEGE LEVEL, the Council reported, "A significant trend also is noted at the college level. The decline in the physical fitness of entering freshmen apparently has been checked and reversed."
But the results of pilot study projects at five colleges last year (included were Southwest Missouri State College and Emporia State Teachers College) "revealed that college students have a surprising lack of health knowledge and the same physical fitness deficiencies which characterize elementary and secondary school children."
- Requiring all entering freshmen to take medical examinations.
- Giving all entering freshmen physical achievement tests with those failing required to take remedial physical education and those passing encouraged to take physical education courses stressing sports skills and contributing to physical development.
The pilot projects also indicated the health of college students is good. Only 3.9 per cent of the 6,499 students given medical examinations had health problems of sufficient seriousness to bar them from taking part in the programs.
SEEMINGLY, MUCH of the Council's attention in the past has been toward the elementary and secondary school children. But, now, on the basis of the pilot projects, the Council plans to publish a physical fitness guide for the college level.
The progress report says the guide will recommend:
Of those recommendations, KU fulfills only one at the present time. All entering freshmen are required to take physical examinations.
But, is the requirement of examinations the only need for the physical well being of KU students? Should all entering freshmen and new students be required to take a year of some sort of physical education?
- Requiring all students to take an examination in basic health knowledge, with those failing required to take a course in health education.
On the next article of this series, KU officials will discuss the recommendations of the President's Council on Physical Fitness.）
When You're In Doubt, Try It Out—Kansan Classified
WHY- Does the Book Store Not Have Enough Textbooks for Some Courses?
The Reason Is Simply This:
No one knows exactly how many of you students will choose to enroll in each course. The people responsible for guessing how many books should be ordered for each course do the best they can, and most of the time they guess very close.
BUT—Sometimes certain courses astound everyone and the enrollment in them goes way beyond expectations, or in some courses the guess is simply too small. And, out of nearly 1,000 courses, sometimes we plain goof on a few.
If you have been unable to get the text you need,you can help us help you if you will come to the store and place your special order for the titles you need. Thus we will know how many extra copies we must re-order.
We regret the inconvenience caused you by textbook shortages and we will do our best to ease the pressure caused by the shortage.
KANSAS UNION BOOK STORE
---