That is why it is so important to overhaul PE across the nation. Go to
www.pe4life.com to get some ideas of what is possible if we put a little focus and money into this problem.
The biggest problem isn't often money (but that is still a big one). Its TIME. Education officials frequently lament the limited hours in the day to get in all the required education for their students, especially to meet the standards of the unfunded mandate, No Child Left Behind. They have 6 class hours. In poor communities, they have large numbers of students who lag too far behind national averages and they have to double them up on English classes. Guess what gets cut if you have to do that?
There are no easy solutions. Before anything though, there must be buy-in from education officials, and it just doesn't exist. I think philosophically that they intuit the importance of quality PE, but not enough to make major changes in their curriculum to make sure kids are getting enough physical activity, AND learning about how to take care of their bodies.