quote:

Gym should not be required for those who do not participate in sports.

They have that for seniors at my school. They are exempt from PE for that season of which the sport is taking place.

But you have to realize that those who hate PE and are forced to endure it for years and year from elementary up to sophmore year are probably going to avoid anything like it for years to come.

I'll admit I'm totally biased because I can't swim and I can't dribble a basketball, which it seems everybody can do. I don't have the hand-eye coordination needed. The point is that PE has been absolutely hell for me.

And there are so many courses I would rather be taking than PE. Not only does the class take up a chunk of my day better spent elsewhere, it adds unneeded stress because we're required to do projects and write papers in the "Health" section of the class and do graphs for our heart rate monitors.

Gym only encourages the kids who do well to be more active - and if you're one of the slowest kids in class, you aren't going to be getting a very good grade and that's never a very good self-esteem booster.

I second Worth's idea of marching band replacing PE for the PE credit. Unfortunately, there are no places to march in the streets of Shanghai, but it's a much better idea all the same.

Excersise is really, really important. If kids aren't excersing in sports or independently at home, than they need to do it at school. Obesity is a huge problem. Requiring gym for "non-active" students would be a great starting point.

No.

I go to school to learn.

I go to the GYM to work out.

There is a grand difference. PE was created to save idiot students whose brain seems to reside in their biceps.

Gym should not be required for those who do not participate in sports. I think that gym is extremely important for people who do not excersise regularly.

I agree that P.E. (or gym as we so lovingly call it here) isn't needed.

If I had not been forced to take gym my freshman year then I could've taken environmental science (a required course at my school). In turn, I would not have had to suffer through the AP version last year and could've taken pre-calc instead. In turn, I could be taking calculus next year instead of pre-calc and stats AP.

Gym is useless. It's not fun for everyone. It doesn't teach you anything (not even the health part of it). And it left me with some of my most humiliating moments in high-school thus far, including an event in which I start hyperventilating and had to get water ahead of everyone else and then b*tchy girls got mad.

In short, kids should definitely not be forced to take gym and furthermore, if the school board feels it is absolutely necessary to take some type of gym/PE/health course, then classes that are about health and nothing else (no physical activity involved) should be created and marching band should suffice for PE credit, if you are a member.