U.S. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation designating May as "National Physical Fitness and Sports Month" and reviving the "Presidential Fitness Award" in schools. The move extends last year's executive order reinstating the President's Council on Sports, Fitness and Nutrition. The U.S. school fitness test, which began in 1956, was effectively abolished under the Barack Obama administration in 2013. The government chose lifestyle sports over competition-oriented fitness measurement. Korea followed a similar path. The "Cheryeokjang," or fitness test, implemented from 1971, was a national event involving students from the fifth grade of elementary school to the third year of high school, and from 1972 it was factored into college entrance exams. The fitness test remained a state-designated physical assessment system until it was abolished in 1993 over concerns about safety accidents and insufficient differentiation among students.
National fitness tests have been born and evolved according to political and social objectives. During industrialization, they served as a means to maintain a quality workforce, and during the Cold War era, they were used to bolster military strength. After the Cold War ended, fitness tests were highlighted as a tool to address national healthcare concerns by lowering obesity rates and increasing physical activity. However, as public interest shifted from physical education to personal exercise and diverse sports, the practice of evaluating bodies by uniform standards gradually lost its place. This is why critics within the United States have called Trump's revival of the "fitness award" a nationalistic idea.
That said, looking at our children these days, it is also true that different concerns arise. Among elementary schools nationwide, 312 prohibit the use of playgrounds during lunchtime. The share reaches 34.7% in Busan and 16.7% in Seoul. Schools have simply closed their playgrounds in response to parents' concerns over safety accidents and complaints about students being left out. Some parents favor "chopoomah" — apartments within walking distance of elementary schools — yet file complaints about the noise from sports days. Even if the era of the state managing citizens' physical fitness is over, we should not neglect our children's fitness either. We need to reflect on what is left after closing playgrounds and pushing students into cram schools. Even without a fitness test, shouldn't we at least preserve the minimum space and time for children to run and play to their hearts' content?
