Konrad Morgan Lehmann Annotated Bibliography: Sports Education in Schools

Konrad Morgan Lehmann

Senior Project 2022

Annotated Bibliography

3/25/22

Knight, Bob. Knight on Sports and Education. OAH Magazine of History, 1985.

Bob Knight writes about the issues that he views in the physical education system at his time. Firstly, he states his participation in the school system, as he has been a teacher for over twenty years. He claims that in his years of teaching, the level of dedication given to physical education in schools has decreased drastically, and argues that this is a failure in the pedagogy.

Knight discusses the diversity of the student body, and how this is a crucial factor in any kind of education, including physical. A school must be able to cater to any and all students, and therefore should find ways to support and encourage any form of education that complements a student.

He emphasizes that physical education has been left out of this discussion, claiming that students are developing quicker than the system can keep up. Knight claims that schools must demand more of their students physically, as they are doing academically, and that the main issue over the years is that academically students have been more challenged, but not in the physical education department.

H. Bowen, Daniel, and Hitt, Collin. History and Evidence Show School Sports Help Students Win. The Phi Delta Kappan, 2016.

Daniel Bowen and Collin Hill approached this with a more progressive view, something I thought would connect to the LREI experience. Referencing the New York system, they discuss the ways in which physical education is crucial to all students. Making sure it is accessible to all students and suits the needs of the student body should be a top priority.

“Blaming school sports for academic inattention and bloated budgets is a popular move, but the evidence shows sports have positive effects for students” is the main statement they work off. Arguing that schools are criticizing the aspect of having school sports instead of questioning their approach to the system in which their physical education is taught.

The sports that are offered are also usually just those that are considered popular but do not provide the ideal experience that students should be expecting from the physical education system.

E. Simon, William. Why is physical education a student’s most important subject? TEDx Talks, 2019.

Simon discusses the importance of physical education in schools, but unlike others. He discusses the facts behind health in the US. Students become adults who are not fully prepared to care for themselves physically and cannot sustain a healthy lifestyle in a country that makes it very hard to do so.

Simon co-founded UCLA Health Sound Body Sound Mind along with his wife, a program started in 1998. What he discusses really interests me and my project as it is about the mental health side of exercise. Physical education proves to be a great beneficiary in mental health stability and growth, and when a body is dysfunctional or unhealthy, it often leads to an unfit and unproductive mind, therefore negatively affecting the subjects like maths and English that one might think has no relation to physical education.

Another important note that Simon discusses is that of social wellbeing. Physical education is a great way in which students and children of all ages can sustain a healthy social life. Many team sports or group activities of physical challenge help bring people together, even when it is in a competitive environment. A healthy human needs a certain threshold of social interaction to stay fit, and physical education is the ideal way to practice this.

White, Eric. Comparative Students in Physical Education and Sport. Comparative Education, 1973.

I found this paper by Eric White an interesting alternative as it is certainly a little older than the other sources on this list. He discusses what he observes as the lack of progressive thinking that schools of his time have, and seeks to find a solution to what he finds a lack of attention to detail in the physical education departments.

White uses the physical education systems of Britain as a comparison and further example, stating that there is also an insufficient amount of attention to physical education in the United Kindom, with little to no research being done into what positive change could look like. He argues that all education systems, as well as physical, should be looking at other examples for concepts and ideas, something that is not being done.

Lastly, he discusses the potential “leisure programs” that have been theorized by others, he cites E. F. Zeigler who argues the importance of sports that are not only physically straining but leisurely and beneficial, an argument not yet stated…

Shrotriya, Yash. Sports in Education. TEDx Talks, 2018.

Shrotriya had a different approach to the subject of physical education than the other writers and speakers in this bibliography. As a current student-athlete, Shrotriya discusses his time on his swim team, something that takes up a lot of space in his schedule. Before joining the swim team, Shrotriya claims he often “wasted his time” during the day, as he had so much time that leaving his work up to the last minute was often his plan of action for completing homework and projects. He claims that actually having less time (coming back from swim team meets late in the evening or knowing he had a meet in the late evening) helped him stay focused and complete his work.

He then goes on to discuss his “reflection” process, something he learned from his swimming career. After a swim meet that didn’t end in him winning, Shrotriya would reflect on his work during and up until his swim meet, what was lacking? His stamina, aggression, or technique? And he claims this is something that comes from sports but can be easily translated into an academic environment.

Shrotriya finishes off by stating the benefits of a multisport education, especially its health benefits and its ability to increase hand-eye coordination and effective muscle memory.

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