ABSTRACT
Exercise is essential for the growing young. Schools subscribe too easily to the body/mind split fallacy, allocating time to physical activities but seeing them as inferior to the more important exam-oriented intellectual work. Physical education (PE) teachers, feeling themselves labelled as lesser beings where the intellect predominates, too often overcompensate by setting too high a premium on achievement as such. PE teachers who have already learnt to value their own bodies have the privilege of passing on this achievement to the young if they choose to do so. PE teachers need a philosophy; theirs is an important role. They have the responsibility of helping not just the enthusiastic athletes to be more successful but also the unwilling, the clumsy, the inept and the frightened to find some satisfaction in their own bodies.
