Physical Education, Recreation, the Environment, and our Quality of Life*
by Don DeGraaf, Ph.D.
Calvin College
* This paper was presented at the The Guangzhou Institute of Physical Education on January 2, 1996.
As one enters the train station in Guangzhou, China, there is a large sign which says in Chinese and English, Think Globally, Act Locally. In essence this sign is proclaiming the same message that John Muir, an American naturalist, advocated when he stated “when we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe.” In a sense physical educators have always acknowledged this fact by reaching out to all aspects of the human spirit.
This philosophical base is best exemplified in the typical triangular model used by physical educators which connects the mind, the body and the spirit of individuals to promote a balance in people which results in an improvement of their quality of life. That model can be enlarged to further the impact of physical educators upon the quality of life of society. With this thought in mind, this paper argues that the physical education model should be changed to a diamond shape which includes the mind, the body, the spirit and the environment.
By expanding the vision of physical educators to include the environment in which we all live, physical educators can continue to address the “complete” individual. Such an addition would be especially prophetic today as we struggle with environmental problems on a global scale and we realize the true inter-connectedness of our world. The addition of a fourth component into the physical education model would also re-connect physical educators with the allied professions of health and recreation.
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