A very serious and credible research has just compared the physical condition of young people today to that of young people in 1982. The result is disturbing to say the least.
Young people are fatter and more likely to suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure; “among boys, at 17, you have 58% of young people who have a level that exposes them to health problems. For girls, it’s even worse. It is 70% of girls who, at the age of 17, are exposed to developing significant cardiometabolic problems in the years to come. […] The situation is catastrophic. We suspected it, but here we are certain,” summarizes researcher Mario Leone, associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences at the University of Sherbrooke.
Recreational screens
Among the important factors that explain this tragedy, it is absolutely necessary to put the time spent in front of recreational screens – TV, video games, social networks.
The French researcher in cognitive neuroscience
Michel Desmurget, who has carefully studied the phenomenon in France, told me in these pages: “On the duration of childhood [2-18 ans], the most fundamental period of human development, our offspring spend the equivalent of 30 school years on recreational screens. »
The effects of all this are physical, but also psychological. American social psychologist and ethics professor Jonathan Haidt, who studies the issue, argues that in the United States, loneliness and depression are on the rise and that the lack of social connections fostered by social media plays an important role here. .
We have to deal with this situation, which will also have in the future, if we do not act quickly, serious repercussions on the health system and on the economy.
Unfortunately, the current context, with the shortage of teachers and the state of sports infrastructure, does not favor things, far from it.
We have recently, and we should welcome this, added one hour of activity per day in primary school; but the program is not yet implemented everywhere.
I recognize of course that the problem is not only that of the school and that our ways of living play their part there and are part of the solution. I also know that the time spent in school is limited.
But the school can and must play its important role in this matter. And philosophy can contribute to this effort by justifying the place of physical activity in the curriculum.
A philosophical point of view
Philosophers of education have often warned against the temptation to make physical activity a component of education in the strict sense. Education, it is said, concerns the transmission of knowledge and if one can study physical activity, as one does at university, its practice at school is not a component of education.
But this does not preclude the justification of making room for physical activity in the school curriculum by invoking its instrumental value. Arguments in this direction have not been lacking and they are more relevant than ever.
Physical activity, summarize researchers Mike McNamee and Richard Bailey, can contribute to physical health and personality development, and help fight obesity and develop social skills. It is a tool for combating exclusion and promoting acceptance by peers, it helps to resolve conflicts of all kinds, especially ethnic ones, and can improve the relationship with school for children and young people.
All this is very plausible and it is a lot.
But I would insist on recalling how essential physical activity is to the life of the mind. Allow me a confidence. When I started to have a passion for ideas, around 15 years old, I stopped all physical activity, I who until then had done quite a bit. No time for tennis: I have a text to read…
It was a big mistake. I resumed exercise years later. Today, I often joke that I should sign some of my texts: Baillargeon and his bike. I read or write and I block on something? I go for a bike ride, it falls into place. It may not generalize. But my bike is okay.
We will concede it in any case: the beautiful adage ” Mens sana in corpore sano », a healthy mind in a healthy body, has lost none of its truth.
I have said and I repeat that in order to implement what is urgently needed in terms of physical activity in schools, many practical problems will have to be faced. What exactly ? Driven by who? Where? At what times? I cannot answer these questions.
But I am submitting a modest idea to help do all of this. As the experiment carried out in several countries suggests, cell phones should be abolished in schools.
We can expect many beneficial effects: on academic performance, but also on mental health and physical activity. For starters, if you don’t check your cell phone in the schoolyard, we’ll chat with friends and play…