According to a study from the Oregon State University College of Public
Health and Human Sciences, only 39 percent of four-year colleges said
students had to meet physical
education requirements in 2010, down from about two-thirds in the 1980s
and 90s and a peak of 97 percent in the 1920s.
Researchers checked the websites of 354 randomly selected schools.
The numbers were lowest at public colleges and universities.
The study is published in Research Quarterly for Exercise and Sport. It
did not explore why colleges are dropping the requirements.
But
Steve Mitchell, president-elect of the National Association for Sport
and Physical Education, told USA Today that among the reasons the
requirements are being
dropped is because students are being required to take many classes
outside their majors, a general shift away from classes dealing with
life skills more to career skills, and a push to finish school as quick
as possible to avoid costs.
