The idea of the program was to motivate kids to get in shape and improve their health. Well, in short, it came down to something some people have termed kid shaming. So, if this program was such a significant success, why was it scrapped. Interestingly, this came with the suggestion that those also saw significant increases in their academic achievements as well.Īnd with this success came expansion, where over time, new programs and awards were added by later administrations – right up until the end of the program, in 2013.
This program included the following to be performed daily if possible: Conditioning exercises: While schools were not forced to participate, this program was offered to schools across the nation, and almost 250,000 school children took part in pilot projects to measure its effectiveness. Subsequently, upon his election in 1961, JFK and his team created a US physical fitness program designed with the intent to boost the health of the nation’s school children. Within this, a large part of JFK’s election campaign revolved around the premise of increasing the nation’s health. This leads quite nicely into the top of John F Kennedy’s Physical Fitness program.Īs outlined above, the late 1950s lead to the roll out of mass physical testing for American school children. John F Kennedy US physical fitness program Now, while this test was a core component of the curriculum for close to 50 years, it was eventually scrapped after the 2012-2013 school year. Maximum Pull ups (boys), or best arm hang (girls)įinally, those children that scored within the 85th percentile of these activities was awarded the presidential fitness award.
500 yard run (later changed to a half mile run).This test initially included several activities that tested children’s fitness levels across a number of different domains: One of which was the Presidential Fitness Test. This council promoted physical fitness for all children, and subsequently called for the involvement of community organizations, schools, and researchers to find specific ways of increasing physical activity levels across the nation. Kraus and Prudden then took their findings to Washington, and on July 16, 1956, President Eisenhower issued an Executive Order that led to the creation of the “President’s Council on Youth Fitness” – which is now the “President’s Council on Physical Fitness, Sports and Nutrition.” However, when this same test was brought to America, the fail rate was a whopping 58%. Out of interest, both researchers started running children from different countries through a specific fitness test – and they found that in European countries were children were incredibly active, very few failed (~8%). Prudden) warning that the affluent lifestyle many American children were currently living was causing them to become complete and utter ‘couch potatoes.’ Kraus, a specialist in physical medicine, published a paper with another specialist (Dr. The presidential fitness test all started with a warning from a man by the name of Dr.
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