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CNN Saturday Morning News

A New Approach to Physical Education

Aired September 01, 2001 - 08:42   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATHY SLOBOGIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At Madison Junior High, they call it the health club, not the gym. No one here gets left off a team.

UNIDENTIFIED INSTRUCTOR: Hey guys, you can switch now.

SLOBOGIN: It's the new P.E. and it's not just for jocks anymore. Phil Lawler, an instructor in the school in Naperville, Illinois, says the old model P.E. that most baby boomers grew up with left children with scars.

PHIL LAWLER, TEACHER: They have nightmares about their experiences of being picked last, being selected to step out in front of a class and perform a skill they weren't very skilled in and they were embarrassed.

That printout will show exactly what your heart rate was doing during the full 12 minutes that you were on that treadmill.

SLOBOGIN: At Madison, the students get a P.E. transcript that follows them through graduation. Only instead of grades, it measures things like body fat, cholesterol and heart rate. Lawler says the new P.E. is catching on. Visitors have come to Madison from over 100 schools around the country. But it's a small movement in a national P.E. decline.

At Madison, we heard a few grumbles from kids about how much running they had to do, but most seemed enthusiastic.

MICHELLE RZEPKA: You learn like what to eat, like how to keep ourselves like healthy and fit and stuff and how to stay active like in our daily lives.

SLOBOGIN: Kathy Slobogin, CNN, "YOUR HEALTH."

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