Physical Education Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography: Joe Noble

American Physical Education and Sport from 1941 to today

The purpose of the chapter was to review the changes that have occurred in physical education since World War I. When a large percentage of men failed to meet the military fitness standards physical education become focused on improving the health and fitness level of population for the war effort. This causes the tendency for physical educations to adapt physical training programs for military preparedness through World War II. Decades following World War II the Korean War and the Kraus-Weber Tests implied that American elementary school children were much less fit than their counterparts in other nations. This caused the physical education to focus on physical training. Then during the space race, physical education was reduced as a push toward the sciences increased. Thus, there was a push toward making physical education more science based. This transition was presented by Franklin Henry and Bryant Conant. However, the chapter notes that:

What this suggests was that the reaction of physical educators to Conant 's criticism says more about what the discipline thought about itself than it does about outside pressure causing reform. Indeed, Conant 's criticisms of physical education amount to only a few paragraphs out of two hundred pages. Such sensitivity on the part of physical educators implies a far deeper vein of disquiet than could have been instigated by either Conant or Henry.”

Following the progression toward a science-based physical education, the next major change that came about to physical education was Title IX and the development of sport. The development of sport helped encourage physical training in physical educations classes to aid in the development of athletes. This was said to be due ultimately to the business portion of