Why Do Some Students Who Are Good At Physical Education Dislike It So Much?

Authors

  • Ruth S. Morey
  • Grace Goc Karp

Abstract

Research on adolescents' with negative attitudes toward physical education has been limited. A recent study by Carlson (1995a) examined a cross section of  students and their attitudes towards physical education. The study demonstrated that the majority of students did not regard physical education in the same way as they do many of their other subjects such as math or geography. Carlson (1995a) found that students attitudes were often linked to their expectation of the subject. The students expressed that they saw physical education as a break from their other studies, not as a “real subject” that would aid their likelihood of getting a good job or a place at university and thus, not as important as other subjects. Other studies (Carlson, 1995b; Portman, 1995; Smith, 1993) focused on special populations of students, such as those of low ability or those socially isolated or alienated. However, there has been very little in-depth examination of competent students and their attitudes towards physical education. Teachers tend to recognize those students who are talented and try to encourage and  stimulate these students to receive their full potential. The assumption of most teachers is that competent students enjoy and like physical education. Thus  equating ability with attitude. However, Bain (1980) found that students needed to be positively socialized into physical education to have positive attitudes  towards it.

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Published

1998-04-12

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Section

Articles