Published June 23, 2023, 1:20 a.m. by Bethany
Physical education has a transcendent value that is often undervalued, including social, intellectual and academic spaces. Why is it so often the first area to be cut when looking at courses to prepare students for thriving futures? William E. Simon, Jr. is the co-founder of UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind, a program he began with his wife Cindy Simon in 1998, dedicated to fighting childhood obesity by providing state-of-the-art fitness equipment, a comprehensive curriculum, and professional development for PE programs. He is the author of, "Break a Sweat, Change Your Life" urging the need the for physical education in schools and championing fitness among youth. Mr. Simon is an Assistant Adjunct Professor in both the Department of Economics and the Law School at UCLA, and a a partner at Massey Quick Simon, a wealth management firm. In 2018, Mr. Simon was awarded the UCLA Marty Sklar My Last Lecture Award, and several honorary degrees. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
You may also like to read about:
[Music]
let's start with a pop quiz can you name
the only subject in school that promotes
physical and emotional health helps
children learn better and cultivates the
character that they need to be
productive adults yeah I think some
people out there got an a it's physical
education I believe that physical
education should be a core subject just
like math English science and history
but that's not the way it works today
all too often PE is treated as the least
important subject versus the most
important subject which is how it should
be children need to succeed of course in
academic subjects and by the way
exercise helps them do better in
academic subjects but principles of
health and fitness they are vital in the
truest sense of that word literally the
students lives depend upon it think
about it
if the student has trouble with math
maybe they won't be such good budgeters
if a student has trouble confusing and
adjectives with an adverb maybe they
won't be a great author or maybe they
don't understand the workings of a cell
they may not be a good biologist but if
a student doesn't understand the
principles of health and fitness they
risk chronic disease and an early death
so my vision is that every school should
provide every student with the
opportunities that will give them a
healthy start in life
and also with the education and skills
that will give them a fit lifetime
unfortunately in today's school system
there are not adequate resources that
are devoted to physical education
whether it's because of competing
priorities or whether it's because they
undervalue physical education the median
annual budget for physical education in
schools for an entire school is 764
dollars for the whole school for all
children that boils down literally to
pennies per pupil now there's there's
plenty of money for PE it's a matter of
priorities it's not a matter of
resources my wife Cindy and I 20 years
ago tried to address this issue and
change the narrative about physical
education we started a program that's
now called UCLA health sound body sound
mind
we put physical fitness equipment in
schools we have a curriculum we have
training for physical education teachers
today we're in 151 schools we impact
over 185 thousand children every year we
know the problem and the solution and
there's a lot more to be done locally
nationally and even globally we know
that robust physical education helps
children become better learners better
versions of themselves and better people
for tomorrow now I know the
transformative impact of exercise both
professionally and personally this is
our son Willie he has autism he's 31
years old he's thriving in a residential
home he works at Home Depot as you can
see he paints amazing seascapes it
wasn't always that way for many years he
struggled with behavioral issues my wife
and I were concerned about his weight
which had soared to over 220 pounds
that's a lot for her even a 6-footer
like Willie then six years ago
a wise member of Willie's care team said
let's have Willie do some exercise and
he went on a treadmill in the beginning
20 minutes
now he's ramped up to 2 hours a day he
runs in local races I've tried to run a
few with him I can't keep up with him
the results have been spectacular
Willie was diagnosed at the age of three
and for the last 20 years he has been on
meds and therapy of some kind but I'm
here to tell you ladies and gentlemen
that the best therapy the best med he's
ever had his exercise
now there's compelling evidence that
exercise helps your bodies and brains
first with with with respect to academic
outcomes
the Institute of Medicine found that
reading and math are the subjects that
are most impacted by exercise they also
found that reading and math require a
good executive function and they also
found that there's a link between a good
executive function and exercise even
moderate exercise seems to help quite a
bit
in neuroscience magazine a study
reported that a group of nine year olds
were given cognitive tasks and they in
some instances they walked beforehand
and what happened was there was
significant improvement in their
performance versus when they didn't walk
beforehand in Naperville Illinois eighth
graders were given a math test in cases
where they had thirty minutes of
vigorous exercise they performed 11 to
22 percent better it's clear even a
moderate amount of exercise goes a long
way so if you had just a slight change
in priorities a slight change in
resources there would be a substantial
change in learning by the by our
students dr. John Ratey
a Harvard neuroscientist explains why
this is so he says exercise releases a
cascade of neural chemicals and other
growth factors that bolster the brains
infrastructure dr. Ratey said exercises
miracle-gro for the brain he said
they're basically three reasons for this
first exercise optimizes your mindset
improving your alertness and your
motivation second exercise helps cells
bind together
which is a way that the brain holds
information and third exercise actually
helps create new nerve cells in the
hippocampus which is the Center for
learning and memory exercise it turns
out helps the brain structures in many
many ways let's talk about mental health
you saw what happened with our son
Willie the Mayo Clinic did a study where
they found that endorphins that are
released upon exercise you know they're
the the brain's neurotransmitters and
the feel-good effect it has an impact on
mild cases of depression and anxiety
it turns out that exercise is a low cost
effective natural way to deal with life
stressors think about socially these
days many of us spend a lot of time on
screens particularly students there's a
lot of loneliness that that scientists
are finding right now exercise addresses
that social aspect and the maturation by
having other people to workout with so
we have found more and more research on
covering how exercise helps the body the
mind and the emotions so we should
consider as well what happens when there
there is no exercise inactivity is
dangerous and widespread to the point
that Lancet Journal which is a respected
British Medical Journal has called
inactivity the new smoking now it's
clear that inactivity is a core cause of
obesity there's others whether it's a
sedentary lifestyle whether it's the
undervaluing of physical exercise
whether it's urban living whether it's
safety factors one thing is clear that
the incidence of obesity has exploded
it's doubled amongst children so
the 1980s during that same period
amongst adolescence it's tripled a third
of American children today are
overweight 14 million American children
are obese 14 million that is
unacceptable the impacts of obesity are
profoundly disturbing the World Health
Organization characterized several they
said that obese children tend to be
bullied at school they have low
self-esteem
they generally underperform in the
classroom and they have poor employment
prospects as adults not to mention that
the disease is that they become
susceptible to including hypertension
diabetes - these are two ailments that
used to be confined to adults no longer
did you know that the Centers of Disease
Control reported out that 40% of cancers
are linked to obesity 40% studies have
shown that childhood obesity inevitably
leads to adult obesity sadly it appears
that this generation of young people is
likely to have a shorter life span for
the first time than their parents Public
Health visionary dr. Jonathan fielding
has said and I paraphrase the results
are in younger people are not working
out they are in danger it's a it's a
pathway to chronic disease and early
death he said shockingly 19 year-olds
get no more exercise than 60 year olds
now ladies and gentlemen I'm 68 60s in
my rearview mirror normally I'd like to
be compared to a 19 year old but not
today
and if this picture isn't scary enough
the financial consequences are quite
high
Johns Hopkins researchers submitted a
report that basically said if you take
all children between the ages of 8 and
11 put them on a program of regular
exercise 25 minutes three times a week
which by the way is 20% of what is the
recommended amount the savings will be
sixty two point three billion dollars
over the course of their lifetimes
whether it be in lost wages or in
medical expenses so we're looking at a
massive health crisis what's the
solution well clearly one solution is
schools why is that well that's where
the children are that's where the
purpose is to train and to educate I
call physical education class the
low-hanging fruit on the fitness tree
children deserve to be literate in
physical fitness just like they do in
English or math they deserve to
understand the roles that nutrition and
fitness play and it's not just confined
to your bodies it's also has to do a
cognitive achievement mental and
emotional health and again studies have
shown that students who take physical
education are more likely to be able to
be active outside of physical education
class that will set a firm foundation
for fitness as they go into adulthood
special area of concern is low-income
schools Children's Defense Fund study
found that children in low-income
neighborhoods are nine times more likely
to be overweight
we know that in low-income neighborhoods
there's relatively few safe places few
affordable healthy
adoptions organized sports very
expensive so it may be realistically
that physical education in lower-income
neighborhoods is the only realistic
chance for those students to get any
exercise you know I think what strikes
me most is if physical education class
is the only class that benefits the body
the mind and the spirit this is not
breaking news this is ancient wisdom all
the way up to the present that there's a
fundamental connection between body mind
and spirit this is a timeless concept
that's being ignored today in the
educational establishment exercise
teaches exercise good for your body but
it also teaches resilience and
perseverance and a host of other
character traits that are necessary for
a life well-lived physical education
class is a practice field where these
character traits can be honed and
developed to have our children reach
their highest potential it's the adults
in the room that need to make the best
decisions for them in the United States
we enjoy one of the highest standards of
living in the world surely there's a way
to provide this gift for our children
it's not a matter of resources it's a
matter of priorities we did it in the
1960s when our schools rallied around
the call of President Kennedy for a fit
nation and we could do it again
President Kennedy said Fitness is a
vital prerequisite for America's fullest
realization of its potential it was then
and it is today so let me leave you with
a couple of thoughts it's well settled
in law and in the Constitution's of many
states that education is a fundamental
right shouldn't physical education be a
fundamental right what if physical
education was required in every school
in every grade in every year
for every child what if physical
education was considered the most
important subject in school if we really
care about our children and their future
shouldn't we do more I know what our son
Willie would say thank you
[Applause]
2CUTURL
Created in 2013, 2CUTURL has been on the forefront of entertainment and breaking news. Our editorial staff delivers high quality articles, video, documentary and live along with multi-platform content.
© 2CUTURL. All Rights Reserved.