Letters

?UNFIT KIDS (CONT.)
One reason American teenagers are in poor condition (SCORECARD, March 13) is that gym classes stopped giving them a physical education some years ago. My father and I have very different recollections of phys ed. He went to high school in the 1950s and remembers running, push-ups, basketball and the rings. I attended high school in the early '80s, and often our most strenuous activity was fooling around in the locker room while changing into our shorts. The classes themselves were taken up with yoga, archery, Frisbee and the like.

I am now a high school English teacher and football coach, and things are not any better today. Until phys-ed gets back to helping students achieve a sound mind in a sound body, we might as well follow New Jersey governor Thomas Kean's lead and make the classes optional. As they are now, too many phys-ed programs are a waste of students' time.
COSMO LORUSSO
Union, N.J.

As a professor of education at the State University of New York at Albany, I have noticed that fewer elementary schools schedule recess periods in which children move outside to a playground to romp around a bit. Instead, small children are confined, sitting all day in an officelike setting. Phys-ed periods, when they exist at all, often involve more lining up, listening and waiting for a turn than they do actual physical activity.
RICHARD ALLINGTON, PH.D.
Glenmont, N. Y.

Physical-education programs should be structured with the emphasis on fitness rather than on skill and athletic ability. When the focus is on athletic prowess, children with average or below-average skills often become discouraged and lose interest in exercise. Fitness programs require no special talent, and all healthy children have the capacity to excel.
MICHAEL PAPPACENA
Horsham, Pa.

?PRESERVING JORDAN
In the wake of your story on Michael Jordan (Horns of a Dilemma, March 13), he went down with a groin pull. Upon Jordan's return, Chicago coach Doug Collins moved him to point guard. Surprisingly, the move has worked extraordinarily well. For instance, in his first game back Jordan scored 18 points and dished 15 assists in a 105-88 win over the SuperSonics.

I believe that keeping Jordan at point guard will cut down on the wear and tear on him and maybe prolong his playing career. I also believe that it could put Chicago in contention for the NBA championship.
CHRIS WATERS
North Creek, N. Y.

?SUFFERING WILDLIFE
Thank you for Penny Ward Moser's article about the sad effects the summer drought and harsh winter have had on our wildlife (A Climate for Death, March 13). I hope this will motivate readers to take action by getting in touch with legislators and the many environmental groups that keep informed of measures that can be taken to alleviate the ills plaguing our fragile planet.
DANIEL T. WALL
Freehold, N.J.

While reading Penny Ward Moser's chilling piece, I could not help but think that the fate of wildlife across the nation this past year could become the fate of America's people, unless we act now to clean our air and water and learn how to cope better with Mother Nature's unpredictable behavior.
GARY LARRABEE
Salem, Mass.

In regard to the great American sportsmen pictured waiting, guns in hand, for buffalo at the border of Yellowstone National Park, how much skill is required to slaughter starving animals? I can only imagine the frustration and sadness park rangers and those who fed these majestic animals must have felt while watching the carnage.
CHUCK ARDNER
Fremont, Ohio

?GATOR MUSIC
Let's see if I've got this straight about raising alligators for fun and profit (Return of a Reptile, March 6). They grow fastest "in the hot, quiet dark," but 2� years later "the sound of the human voice petrifies them." So this good ol' boy you write about has the idea of putting in a sound system so these critters will be treated to the voices of deejays and country music 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Have the animal rights groups heard about this?
CHUCK REITINGER
Gunnison, Colo.