Physical Fitness of High School Students and Participation in Physical Education Classes

Abstract

The AAHPER youth fitness test battery, a trunk flexion test, and trunk extension test were administered to 99% of the boys and girls in a senior high school (grades 9–12). The children in this school are required each term to enroll in five “solid” subjects and select one elective (physical education, band, chorus, or art). The relationship between the elective currently selected by the boys and girls and scores on the fitness test was studied. It was clear that boys and girls enrolled in physical education scored highest; those in band were next; and those in art or chorus had the poorest scores. Children were next grouped as to whether they had elected (a) physical education essentially all of their semesters in school, (b) about half of the semesters or (c) never elected physical education. In the case of the boys, the mean difference in fitness scores of those who had had 7 or 8 semesters of physical education (seniors) compared with age-matched boys who had never elected physical education was about the same as the mean differences of the boys with 1–2 semesters (freshmen) compared with the age-matched boys who had not elected physical education. The girls (juniors or seniors) who had elected physical education during all semesters were markedly superior to age-matched girls who had never enrolled in physical education. But this was not true in the freshman comparison for girls, indicating a greater influence of the physical education class activity.