Spiritual_Wellness_Holistic_Health_and_the_Practic

Health Education as a Basic 21
The sine qua non of a revolution — the health of the citizen or anything else —is the
visible change in human values, beliefs, judgments, and commitments. The most stupendous
of man ’ s inventions, said Joseph Krutch, was not the wheel, or the lever, but
the values by which he has lived. Although health values are not always articulately
expressed, they are appearing more and more in the day -to-day attitudes of people of all
ages and all convictions. Indeed, an increasing number of people are testing inherited
health values against new and fresh circumstances. Moreover, they are asking questions.
What are the potentialities of a fully able human being? What connection do we
see between the fully able citizen and the development of the society itself?
HEALTH EDUCATION IN THE SCHOOLS
As a result of the recent studies and reports pertaining to shortcomings in educational
practices and curriculum in the nation ’ s schools, there has been a very noticeable cry
to meet the needs of thousands of children completing school who cannot read properly,
write a check, and construct an appropriate sentence. The goal is to get the schools
“ back - to - basics. ”
What is basic? Is not health education a basic need? Doesn ’t back-to-basics really
mean a return to fundamentals, to longstanding, long understood, and long supported educational
goals? Is it not true that every set of educational goals, from ages past to the present,
has had the health objective heading the list? From Herbert Spencer (What Knowledge
Is of Most Worth? ) and Horace Mann to the enlightened pronouncements of the American
Academy of Pediatrics, American Medical Association, and American Public Health
Association, the support for formal health education has been clearly stated.
There is today a need to point out at every opportunity that health education, in
both schools and community organizations, is indeed a basic — an essential educational
concern no less important than the fundamental processes of calculating and
communicating. Moreover, the effort to seek a comprehensive and coordinated school
and community health education should not be lost in the all too often emotional
school board battles over curriculum and style, but should be directed toward reviewing
reportable evidence of studies and new programs that can be implemented locally.
To do otherwise is to permit health education to slip by default to a “ frill ” level course
one can take or leave, and miss the opportunity to treat the health and wellness dimension
as one of the longstanding basics in education.
It is the combined effort of school and community forces on the school population
that is coordinated by school personnel in terms of health services, healthful school
environment, and health education. It is health education that is the organization of
learning experiences that ultimately influence health attitudes and practices. It is an
applied science that relates research findings to the lives of people by narrowing the
gap between what is known and what is practiced. It is both a process and a program
concerned with human values and behavior that are openly and subtly associated with
such items as ecology and environmental well - being, nutrition and growth, mental
health, mood - modifying substances, safe living, consumer health, sexuality, and the