Does Teaching Physical Education to Girl Students and and Offering Equal Opportunities in Sports Help them in Life?
We all take boys'and girls' sporting teams in high school and college athletics for granted today. Before the 70s, female students at schools and colleges certainly participated in athletics and other sports; but they did so without any help from a proper policy or any official vision of where their endeavors here were headed. And then came the federal law directed at the situation, Title IX, that forever changed the role of girls in a school's athletic ambitions. Certainly this did make a difference to the way girl students began to see themselves, and how they saw society believe in them. But a more tangible answer would be more satisfying. Does it make a better person of the girl as she grows up, that she has the chance to express herself through sports? Does teaching physical education, and giving girl students an outlet in team play and organized sports help them become better people?
There is of course plenty of research that aims to and succeeds in showing how involvement in sports, often results in better-adjusted teenaged girls, ones that do better at exams, who feel better about themselves, and who do not succumb to teenage pregnancies. Research always does show that there is some correlation between how girls who participate in sports also succeed in these ways. But there is no actual cause-and-effect established between the two yet. It could well be that girls who are athletic, already have the will and the wherewithal to stay out of trouble. Teaching physical education might help girls do better when they already are partial to sports. You could equally well argue that teaching music to girls who are musical, might also bring the same kind of results.
Title IX , the education amendment that was introduced in 1972, enjoins that schools and colleges that accept government subsidies, treat boys students and girls exactly the same. College students, both boys and girls, don't really participate much in sporting events between colleges. But once the Title IX law came into effect, schools and colleges around the country saw a quantum jump in the number of girls who participated. Five or six times as many girls did, soon after the new act came into force. Girls who show active interest in sports, do better at their jobs later in life. It isn't easy usually to do studies like this. The researchers don't ever get to know the girls they are studying - there might be extraneous reasons that they haven't been aware of, like poverty, or ill health. But a safe estimate is, that Title IX, the act that requires girls and boys to be treated equally in school, actually allows girls to do better in life, in their relationships, and in their professions. It is clear to see, that sports is directly involved in allowing a person to learn and practice some of the best life skills possible.
It doesn't end there; teaching physical education to schoolgirls, also has effects on their health, long-term. Girls who went to school after the act came into effect, are less obese today, and enjoy better feelings of self-respect. Of course, girls don't rush forward to get into a school sporting team. There are lots of states that still struggle with giving the girl students a proper all-round education. But whichever way it goes, one thing is clear; teaching physical education to schoolchildren, whether boys or girls, can grant them a much better chance in life.
We all take boys'and girls' sporting teams in high school and college athletics for granted today. Before the 70s, female students at schools and colleges certainly participated in athletics and other sports; but they did so without any help from a proper policy or any official vision of where their endeavors here were headed. And then came the federal law directed at the situation, Title IX, that forever changed the role of girls in a school's athletic ambitions. Certainly this did make a difference to the way girl students began to see themselves, and how they saw society believe in them. But a more tangible answer would be more satisfying. Does it make a better person of the girl as she grows up, that she has the chance to express herself through sports? Does teaching physical education, and giving girl students an outlet in team play and organized sports help them become better people?
There is of course plenty of research that aims to and succeeds in showing how involvement in sports, often results in better-adjusted teenaged girls, ones that do better at exams, who feel better about themselves, and who do not succumb to teenage pregnancies. Research always does show that there is some correlation between how girls who participate in sports also succeed in these ways. But there is no actual cause-and-effect established between the two yet. It could well be that girls who are athletic, already have the will and the wherewithal to stay out of trouble. Teaching physical education might help girls do better when they already are partial to sports. You could equally well argue that teaching music to girls who are musical, might also bring the same kind of results.
Title IX , the education amendment that was introduced in 1972, enjoins that schools and colleges that accept government subsidies, treat boys students and girls exactly the same. College students, both boys and girls, don't really participate much in sporting events between colleges. But once the Title IX law came into effect, schools and colleges around the country saw a quantum jump in the number of girls who participated. Five or six times as many girls did, soon after the new act came into force. Girls who show active interest in sports, do better at their jobs later in life. It isn't easy usually to do studies like this. The researchers don't ever get to know the girls they are studying - there might be extraneous reasons that they haven't been aware of, like poverty, or ill health. But a safe estimate is, that Title IX, the act that requires girls and boys to be treated equally in school, actually allows girls to do better in life, in their relationships, and in their professions. It is clear to see, that sports is directly involved in allowing a person to learn and practice some of the best life skills possible.
It doesn't end there; teaching physical education to schoolgirls, also has effects on their health, long-term. Girls who went to school after the act came into effect, are less obese today, and enjoy better feelings of self-respect. Of course, girls don't rush forward to get into a school sporting team. There are lots of states that still struggle with giving the girl students a proper all-round education. But whichever way it goes, one thing is clear; teaching physical education to schoolchildren, whether boys or girls, can grant them a much better chance in life.