Advocating for our profession. Is anyone listening & do we really need to do it? (Part 1)

We have all had the following experience; you have just finished what you felt was an outstanding presentation to your students and as you gaze at their faces you would bet your next paycheck that not a one of them really listened to anything you just said. Interestingly, if you made that bet you would likely lose that paycheck because most of us who have taught for a fair length of time have also had another type of experience. Years later, a student you viewed as a “slacker” and who you would have sworn was not taking your lessons to heart comes back to visit, and much to your surprise they are in great shape and doing well, and tell you how much your PE class helped them.

Advocating for your profession, similar to teaching, can sometimes seem like a fruitless effort. While passionately advocating for what we believe in we secretly doubt that the message is getting through. Advocacy is also like teaching in that the results of what we do are rarely immediate and almost never predictable. Trying to predict when and if that student who appeared disinterested in your classes will take your message to heart is impossible but we deliver the message anyway. To further our chances of success most teachers also learn to deliver information frequently and consistently. When I taught middle school our 6th graders did not really seem to understand the sermon of health and fitness that I was preaching but somewhere in the following three years, after repeated exposure, I discovered that the vast majority of them saw the light and started to understand the importance of maintaining their health and fitness.

Recently I went through an advocacy scenario that followed this pattern. My district eliminated one of our two elementary school physical education positions. I wrote a letter to the superintendent before it happened and advocated for the re-instatement of the position after it had been eliminated. No immediate result was evident and I was sure that the message had fallen on deaf ears. One year later the position was restored. Now I am not claiming that my advocacy alone accomplished this or even that it was the leading cause (many other people also spoke up including elementary class room teachers), but it was part of the effort and in the end someone listened.

I’ve learned that the hardest part of advocating for our profession is not the time spent crafting a message or rounding up support but dealing with the emotional let-down when it appears that our efforts are wasted. This is when we need to dig deep and remind ourselves that advocacy is an educational process and as with teaching the message needs to be repeated frequently and it may take time for it to bear fruit.

I have also been advocating for our district to establish a health and fitness committee. I am in my third year of asking for this without success but this year I had my first opening. My superintendent said that after our next levy we could start to address the issue. We are a long way from having a functioning health and fitness committee, but we are getting closer and repeated advocacy is what got us there.

Advocating for your profession, is anyone listening? Yes if you speak clearly, often and with passion.

This brings me to the second part of the title question, do we really need to advocate? My favorite pair of socks I bought in Death Valley. They have a picture of a skeleton in hiking boots on them and the words “hike or die.” Today we as physical educators are traversing our own Death Valley and our motto could similarly be “advocate or die.” With physical education positions being eliminated or in jeopardy in numerous districts throughout the nation it should be obvious that every single physical educator needs to advocate for the profession. If you find that your job (and the health & fitness of your students) is now on the line you are already late. The time to start advocating was yesterday. If you feel safe in your position the time to start advocating is now to preserve that safety. If you are not sure of your status in your school or district my advice is to start advocating right now.

Advocacy is preventive medicine and the first rule of advocacy is “do some it works.” The second rule of advocacy is “repeat the message,” just like we do with our students. The third rule of advocacy is “be patient and persistent.” If you keep watering the plant it will grow.

Do we really need to advocate? The answer is yes, advocacy is preventive medicine and the only truly ineffective advocacy is no advocacy.

At a past Washington state AHPERD conference, our keynote speaker Dan Miller said, “If you are going through hell, keep going.” Dan should know. His personal story of struggle was highly inspiring. He went through hell and kept going to become a highly respected physical educator. Many of us are going through hell right now in our professional lives but we have to keep going and continue to advocate for what we believe in.

This is the first of a three part series of articles on advocacy. In the next installment I’ll discuss school board presentations, the use of statistics and testimonials. For help in crafting an advocacy message consider attending Paul’s advocacy session that will be available at the AAHPERD National Conference in St. Louis in April Advocacy: Crafting Your Message.