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From the Editor
Teaching PE
in a Consumer Culture
by Steve Stork
I
receive a daily e-mail from Child Care Information
Exchange (http://www.childcareexchange.com) called
“ExchangeEveryDay.” Each e-mail is typically around
100-200 words, addressing child care from a number
of different perspectives: child development and learning, parenting, the child care industry, etc. The June 23,
2005 posting included a brief summary of trends (from
Patler, 2003) that have particular relevance for child
care business managers. Based on current consumer
trends, the following recommendations were made:
• “One size fits one only”: It has become quite
•
For successful customer service today, keep in
mind that “one size fits one only”: the customer you
are serving right now. Mass customization means
you need to treat each customer individually.
Turn your consumers into “prosumers,” proactive buyers who have a choice of what product or
service to buy, and they’ll choose yours because
you’ve given them the options and the features
they truly want.
Get to know the specific needs of your customers—and then develop products and services that
meet those needs.
Go above and beyond the call of duty. If you’ve
made a mistake and delivered poor customer service, apologize and make up for it. Your customers
will love you and will continue to be good customers. (from ExchangeEveryDay, June 23, 2005)
Though the “product” of physical education has no
specific business value, the presumption remains that
our “customers” (i.e., students) must value that product
(i.e., physical activity) in such a way that they seek it
out and are willing to make certain sacrifices in order
to get it. With that in mind, consider the following PEspecific applications of the recommendations made
above.
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•
common in PE to recommend that instruction
be differentiated to accommodate students with
varying needs. However, it is also important to
remember that student needs change with each
passing grade level. Therefore, as teachers, we
must engage in not only mass customization, but
continual and sequential customization.
“Prosumers”: Anecdotally, it seems students want
classes that are fast-paced, light-hearted and fun,
not dull and repetitive. They want to learn about
the person they are now, not the person who
will die of heart disease by age 40. They want
to experience mostly success at skills of value
to them, as opposed to struggling with skills of
value only to the teacher. They want a variable
level of challenge that makes tasks achievable,
though with some initial uncertainty, rather
than inflexible tasks in which the outcome is a
foregone conclusion. To serve these needs, the
teacher must adopt the students’ perspective
while planning lessons. It’s not necessary for the
teacher to abandon important objectives; there
are often a variety of approaches to be taken that
might make those objectives more appealing. We
want students to enter the gym requesting time
to play games of value, not responding to teacher
mandates with, “Aw, do we have to?!”
“Develop products and services”: What the
majority of PE teachers are “selling,” athletics
in particular, long ago outgrew its appeal for the
majority of children. That is why we are seeing an
influx of new activities such as climbing walls and
modified arcade games. Self-test activities seem to
be supplanting team competition. In-school fitness
clubs are replacing staid PE calisthenics. Each
of these examples is the product of addressing
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March 2006
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specific student needs in ways that cause them
to respond more positively. The key for physical
educators is to effectively advocate for the
resources to make such products and services
available to children.
“Above and beyond the call of duty”: In my experience, the most successful teachers are those who
develop a relationship with their students. In other
words, they are interesting, approachable, considerate, and nurturing. In contrast, far too many
teachers adopt a persona that is inscrutable, aloof,
dispassionate, and demanding, assuming that
class management and discipline are primary educational goals. Frequent aggravation with student
shortcomings may lead such teachers to believe
they are “working hard.” However, the caring
teacher who looks out for students’ best interests
by helping them learn skills and new behaviors,
rather than criticizing and punishing, is really the
one who goes above and beyond the call of duty.
Every day in PE the gym should become a version
of Fifth Avenue, attempting to create brand loyalty for
physical activity. Unfortunately, in too many cases,
we engage the moral equivalent of marketing animal
furs to PETA members. Consistently imposing athletic
activities and values on students who perceive themselves as non-athletes seems counterproductive, and
the ubiquitous decrease in levels of physical activity
is testament that PE is not as effective in stemming
that trend as we might like to think. Therefore, we
may need to look beyond the mantra of “establishing a
habit” to creating and “selling” a marketable product.
After all, when children get out of school, physical
activity becomes a personal choice. What are we doing
to ensure they will eventually choose to be physically
active?
Reference
Patler, L. (2003). Trend smart: The 21 trends that will change the way
you do business. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks. j
UT
Steve Elliott, TEPE’s Bookmarks Editorial Board
member, is with the Department of Health and
Kinesiology at Georgia Southern University in
Statesboro. E-mail: smelliot@georgiasouthern.edu.
Linda B. Crider is Program Director and
Amanda K. Hall is Assistant Program Director of the
Florida Traffic and Bicycle Safety Education Program.
The program website is at http://www.dcp.ufl.edu/
centers/trafficsafetyed. The authors can be contacted
at University of Florida, Department of Urban and
Regional Planning, Gainesville, FL 32611-5706.
Email: safetyed@grove.ufl.edu;
bikecrazyforever@hotmail.com.
Deborah Adams is with the Department of Physical
Education and Human Performance at Manhattan
College, Bronx, NY. E-mail: Deborah.adams@manhat
tan.edu.
Felicia Greer and Janelle N. Gilbert have been with
the Department of Kinesiology at California State
University, Fresno for 4 and 6 years, respectively. Email: fgreer@csufresno.edu; jgilbert@csufresno.edu.
David Kahan has been with the Department of
Exercise & Nutritional Sciences at San Diego State
University for 5 years and has taught 13 years
altogether in elementary through post-secondary
physical education. E-mail: dkahan@mail.sdsu.edu.
Marianne Torbert is with the Department of
Kinesiology at Temple University in Philadelphia, PA.
About the Authors
She has been teaching 50 years in five universities
and two public schools. She is Director of the
Leonard Gordon Institute for Human Development
Through Play of Temple University. E-mail:
mtorbert@temple.edu. Steve Stork, TEPE’s Senior
Editor, is with the Department of Kinesiology at
Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville,
GA. E-mail: Steve.stork@gcsu.edu.
Jody L. Crollick is currently teaching at Seven
Springs Elementary in New Port Richey in Pasco
County, FL. E-mail: jcrollick81@gmail.com. G.
Richmond Mancil is a doctoral student in the
Department of Special Education at the University
of Florida. He has taught college courses for 3
years and public school classes for 7 years. E-mail:
mancil@ufl.edu. Christine Stopka is with the
University of Florida, Department of Health Education
& Behavior. She has taught at the college level for 28
years. E-mail: cstopka@hhp.ufl.edu.
Jackie Moulton is the New Boston Central School
Physical Education Teacher (500 students) in New
Boston, NH. She has taught for 30 years. She can be
reached at E-mail: jmoulton@nbcs.k12.nh.us.
Virginia L. Schultz is in her 5th year teaching as a
Physical Education Specialist at Barnes Elementary
School in Beaverton, Oregon. In total, she has taught
for 15 years. She can be reached at her mailing
address: 11850 SW Iron Horse Lane Apt #4, Beaverton,
OR 97008.
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