President Donald Trump signed an executive order Thursday that will reinstate the Presidential Fitness Test and the Presidential Fitness Award in public schools, the New York Times reports.
“From the late 1950s until 2013, graduate scholars all across our country competed against each other in the presidential fitness test, and it was a big deal,” NPR quoted him as saying at the signing ceremony, flanked by about 30 professional athletes. “This was a wonderful tradition, and we’re bringing it back.”
The order will also reinstate the President’s Council on Sports, Fitness, and Nutrition and task it with developing criteria for the test, such as the types of exercises or drills to be used. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr will administer its rollout.
Certificate and badge from the 70s (Click Americana.com)Before President Barack Obama phased out the test after the 2012-13 school year, replacing it with the Presidential Youth Fitness Program, which focused on overall student health rather than standardized fitness benchmarks, it included
- a one-mile run,
- modified sit-ups,
- a 30-foot shuttle run,
- a sit-and-reach flexibility test, and
- a choice between push-ups or pull-ups.
