Should High School Students Take All 4 Years of Physical Education?
There has been talk about having students starting their freshman year in 2013 to be required to take all four years of physical education.
So the question at hand is: should they?
Obesity is at a high rate in the US. In a survey conducted in 2010 reported that 18.3% of young Americans (ages 12-19 years old) are obese.
With this information, it’s no wonder why schools nationwide have put in policies to regulate healthy lifestyles, like taking soda out of schools, putting in healthier food alternatives, and making it possible for children and teens to get involved in sports.
In most high schools, it’s a requirement to take two years of physical education (one year of freshman PE, and then one more, unless you play two JV or Varsity sport). The only thing to pass is the Fitness Gram. If you don’t pass that, you have to take that second year of PE whether or not you play sports.
Ask anyone at West Hills if they think high school students should take all four years of physical education and 99.9% of them will say no automatically.
But we can’t just give this opinion based on the fact that no one likes nor wants to get dressed out, get sweaty, smelly, and look like crap for the rest of the day.
Instead we have to look at the reasons for why someone would want to make the four year PE requirement.
For one, it will force students to get daily exercise and partake in activities. Most children develop unhealthy eating habits due to societies fast pace, and, sorry Steve Jobs, but the worlds new technology (iPhones, etc) that make it easier catch up with friends without having to leave the security of your couch.
So as you would assume, the children then carry these habits to high school as freshmen; they loath the constant daily push-ups and crunches. Little do they know that that small amount of exercise can make a difference in the long run.
Another reason is that, for example, West Hills recently got a new pool and aquatics center, so by having everyone take PE, it will give students and equal opportunity to use it.
Yet even with these valid points, you still have to consider the opposer’s side, right?
If you make it a requirement to take the full four years of PE, you would be taking away time for scholastics, which, isn’t that what school is for? Academics first, yea?
Plus, most people going into high school with a mind set to get the A-G requirements done early and get ahead of the game so that they could have the possibility to take just five classes their junior and senior year. If you make them be forced to take that extra class for PE, their motivation drops because they would either have to take six classes or drop an elective they really want.
Either way, it’s obvious that students are against the four years of physical education, and in all honesty, if schools really wanted to help make a difference and inculcate healthy policies, they should focus more on the foods they serve at lunch.
Last I checked, pizza for breakfast isn’t really part of the main food groups.
