LEADERSHIP

Step 1: Foundation and Rationale

The proposal to make PEDU courses a part of the Carolina Core first needs its scientific rationale explained. In addition to physical health benefits, exercise/ physical activity “improves mental health by reducing anxiety, depression, and negative mood and by improving self-esteem and cognitive function” (Sharma, Madaan, & Petty, 2006). EXSC 410, the Psychology of Physical Activity teaches that exercise helps prevent as well as treat chronic stress and depression by fostering social interaction & reinforcement, increasing self-esteem and self-efficacy, opportunity for skill/ activity mastery, and providing a break from negative thoughts. Furthermore, other hypotheses suggest that endorphin release counteracts symptoms, or anthropology suggesting that humans are evolutionarily meant to be physically active more often than not. Independent of the true mechanism(s) of physical activity reducing depressive symptoms, the conclusions found show that exercise does help to alleviate symptoms (Cooney, et al., 2013). Combining the rise of mental health concerns with evidence suggesting that exercise may be an often-neglected intervention in mental health care, I feel that there is a strong case to be made for adding PEDU to the Carolina Core. From a moral and ethical standpoint (1), we owe it to our students to make every effort to prevent mental health decline as well as treat existing concerns. It is also worth considering the symptoms of depression that lead to decreased academic performance, which include loss of energy and motivation, increased difficulty with concentrating, and difficulty with memory. Universities function first and foremost as academic institutions, so from a purely purpose standpoint (2), making additional efforts to prevent students from dropping out or significantly lowering their GPAs should be imperative. Universities have statistics on average GPAs as well as drop-out rates, and keeping the former high and the latter low are necessary to attracting new students each year; because student tuition makes up a tremendous proportion of revenue, additional efforts to reduce depression also make sense from a business standpoint (3).

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            With the scientific basis and three standpoints in mind, implementing one credit hour of PEDU into the Carolina Core seems to be quite reasonable. The Carolina Core applies to all students, but in the scenario of disabled individuals, a mandatory physical education course is problematic. The solution to this is that any student registered with the Student Disability Resource Center may fill out an exemption form if they choose to. In addition, transfer students and non-traditional students may also opt for exemption with the Registrar if they choose to. Outside of these groups, individuals in more rare/ unique situations may also opt for exemption with the Registrar, which would be reviewed on a case by case basis. The overall objective of the added PEDU requirement is one credit hour, and is by no means meant to burden students with non-traditional circumstances. The PEDU requirement could be fulfilled at any point from matriculation to graduation, and until it’s viability and effectiveness is established, this requirement is optional to non-Columbia campuses such as USC Aiken, Beaufort, etc.

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Step 2: Proposal for Trial Implementation

            Utilizing all of the information up to this point, creating a proposal and submitting it to the relevant administration entities would be the next step. Similar to the transition document in my second Key Insight, writing the proposal involves articulating the idea clearly, creating a methodology to test/ implement it, then analyze the future results. If UofSC Columbia agrees to give the program a trial run, it should apply only to the freshman class beginning the coming academic year at earliest. Existing students should not be mandated to take the PEDU courses, but perhaps an option for them to opt in could be established so that they can provide additional data in future.

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Step 3: Evaluation and Permanent Implementation

            After X number of years of PEDU being a part of the Carolina Core, annually gathered data on mental health should be evaluated to determine if the newly mandatory course is effective or not. If the data shows any improvement in reducing the prevalence of mental health concerns, and/or students express positive feedback about the requirement, the trail implementation should become a permanent implementation. When I say “any” improvement, I firmly believe that preventing even one suicide means the implementation should become permanent; even with potential confounding variables influencing the data, the possibility that PEDU caused the improvement should not be discredited. Data should continue to be collected to make a compelling case to other universities that physical education courses deserve consideration as a core course. Or, initiatives and programs encouraging physical activity as a means to benefit mental health could become more widespread. It may be worth following up with students who had the PEDU requirement post-graduation, and surveying them to see if exercise has become a lifelong method they’ll use to prevent and treat mental health symptoms.