The End of Gym Class

By Loralye Homme

High schoolers changing into month old clothes, teachers screaming over the tens of kids, students being forced to participate in time-wasting activities; these are just some of the ways high school gym class is remembered. Gym class, formally known as physical education, is a mandatory class for many schools, including our own. According to the state, it allows students to get their daily exercise throughout the school day. In reality, it is taking up time for students to take educational classes, or even classes that they are interested in. Students rarely achieve their recommended exercise in the short period of time given, and it is often dreaded by many of the participants. Because of this, Southern Regional should get rid of mandatory physical education.

Are you the type of student who would like to take more classes, but does not have enough time in the day? Maybe it is a class that would benefit your future career. Or even one that would kick start a new hobby. Whatever the reason, you want to take advantage of all of the classes Southern has to offer, but can not. There just isn't enough time in your day. But what if there could be? What if you could clear out an entire period? The simple solution is to get rid of gym. There are students who are not taking lunch in order to fit all of their classes in. Does whoever makes gym mandatory think that it is more important than lunch? It would make more sense for a student to go without playing pickleball if it meant they were able to get three meals in a day. Students should not have to decide between improving their career or eating lunch. Making gym optional would drastically reduce this problem.

Many people argue that gym gets students their allotted exercise time in, but this is false. Gym can hardly count as exercise. The majority of students don't lose an ounce of sweat in the short period of time. It could be seen as having the opposite effect of its purpose. While gym is supposed to allow students to exercise, they really do not. This means that students could believe they reached their exercise requirement, causing them to not exercise on their own. This results in little to no exercise, causing students to be extremely inactive.

While the ideas behind gym have a positive impact on students’ health, it really has a negative effect. It could prevent students from taking the classes they would like to do, and could even stop some students from eating lunch. The solution to this mandatory physical education class is simple; get rid of gym class.