Friday, January 12, 2007
(Real) Physical Education
We all read about this idea of physical activity actually being beneficial to our mental health, our physical health, and the health of our mind and body working together as one impressive tool. I absolutely agree with such a postulate! Yes, I think there are limits as to what physical activity can do to further our total health, but so many basic concepts that are present in physical challenges are ALSO present in mental challenges. Most obvious is physical problem solving. Thing about the last time you had to come up with a way to do something physical, such as move something very heavy or fit a lot of things into a small dorm room (i.e. tetris), that lacked a clear solution? While this may not include physical exertion, we can touch, smell, hear, and see what we are up against. It prepares us to use what mental knowledge we have. Story problems in mathematics are used for a reason, and real-world problems are a further extension of story problems. We cannot just be capable of great things that begin with our minds. We must be able to do them. But moving closer to sport as it is commonly thought of, just think of what teamwork, exertion, failure, and victory can give you. You learn how to outsmart and predict the actions of others. You become more familiar with your body and it's capabilities. You learn how to IMPROVE these capabilities! Look at weightlifting. For most people, trying to bench 300 lbs right now would be impossible. No matter how hard they try, these people simply cannot do it. Now, have this same group of people work passionately to build up to this feat of pressing 300 lbs. It becomes possible. Sport helps us not only to learn, but to learn how to learn. I can think of few things that are of more value. Finally there is failure, and there is victory. Failure can frequently yield a drive to do better. It teaches us how much we enjoy victory, and ensures that we will fight in the future to secure it. Victory is simply that. Victory. And with victory, comes happiness. Sport is not the only place where we may be victorious, but it is fascinatingly unique and absolutely unforgettable. Needless to say, I agree with Mr. Olds.
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There is a distinction in geometry your post made me think of: the distinction between a "theorem" and a "problem". A "theorem" is where you can deduce a truth about a figure (eg. a triangle) from its definition, it's a purely intellectual exercise. A "problem" is where you can't get to a particular truth about a figure without actually transforming it physically, drawing diagrams etc. Our modern notion of a "problem" comes from this geometrical definition, and in Ancient Greece there were all sorts of arguments about the place of problems in geometry because it was a bit scandalous to them that there could be geometrical truths that relied on operations in space and time, since their ideal of truth was that it was eternal and extra-worldly - "theorematic".
I really like this idea that sport doesn't just make you learn, but makes you learn to learn, and I think this is related to the above issue. When you face a purely intellectual situation, you don't have to take the same risks or make the same public commitment, you can do it all (or think you can do it all) "in your head". In sport, however, you have to make a physical, public commitment and risk failure. I certainly think this was part of my own dislike of sport when I was younger: as a perfectionist intellectual, the risk of failure was hugely stressful...
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