Thoughts About Graduate Study in Physical Education, Exercise, and Sport Science

Graduate programs will be appropriate if we maintain the integrity of graduate study by insisting on a major emphasis on research by graduate students and faculty. Graduate programs will be undesirable if we award graduate degrees for what should be undergraduate programs, and/or if faculty become so involved in undergraduate or service programs that there is no ongoing focused scholarly activity. To continue to argue about the relative importance of service, practitioner preparation, and research objectives in graduate education will cause ongoing division, resulting in faltering steps toward the future. On the other hand, minor cosmetic changes aimed at achieving the image of a unified graduate program will produce stumbling attempts to go forward. Marching together boldly into the future requires respect for different missions at different levels and doing well what needs to be done by the practitioner, in undergraduate and in graduate programs. At the graduate level, it means taking seriously our mission to acquire better estimates of the truth. Three ideas that will assist that inquiry are to define graduate study in terms of (a) an extension of research, (b) relevant independent study, and (c) the kind of depth that promotes an appreciation of the breadth and interrelatedness of all aspects of our field.