Re: Clark's Freestyle Stroke

Regarding kids and physical fitness in the schools...

There's a guy somewhere in Illinois who has an absolutely great idea.  Don't
know his name; he was quoted by a California middle school PE teacher who was
trying to emulate in his school what the guy in Illinois is advocating.

Traditional PE and after school sports are geared pretty much toward the 50% of
students with some type of athletic talent. PE programs are good for those
kids, but near worthless for the non-athletic kids who just get put out in
right field and left to "watch the dandelions grow" (as so wonderfully captured
in Peter Yarrow's song).

What the kids OUGHT to be taught is PERSONAL FITNESS, according to the guy from
Illinois. What shools should be investing in are not athletic fields (and
maybe, sniff, pools) but treadmills, and exercise bikes, and elliptical
trainers, and high impact aerobics mats, and sound systems and really engaging
music CDs to accompany all of the above.  The kids should be taught all about
aerobics and heart rate monitoring and stuff like that, with much less emphasis
on how to set a pick or make a corner kick or swim butterfly.

Hard to argue against it.