With the snap of your wrist, you whack the ball high over the net. Sweaty and tired, you have been playing pickleball for far too long, and it is draining you. Once this class is over, however, you aren’t finished. You still have two hours of practice after school. “Exercise is good,” they say. Yet, this is too much for students.
Extracurricular sports should start counting as credit towards PE as long as students participate in a sport for at least two seasons. PE is a graduation requirement; however, I would argue students get much more out of being a part of a team than fulfilling the required gym credit.
As a cross country runner, I run six days a week during the season, yet, I still have to do credit for gym class. Logging over 20 miles a week should be more than enough. For all sports, practices are a workout in itself. This is aggravating: sports provide more than adequate exercise compared to the activities we do in gym class. Many other student athletes are in the same situation. Not only does being in gym class take time out of our schedules, we are forced to go to practice burnt out. I should mention that taking PE online is an option, but that also takes up time. It also requires you to video yourself, which I find weird and uncomfortable, even though I know it is necessary for grading purposes. I had to spend way too much time and effort making sure my videos would work correctly without pausing halfway through. And then I had to do the workout itself. The last thing anyone wants is sore muscles and a dampered spirit from having to take PE. We want to be able to focus on our sports, instead of having to worry about wasting time in PE class. Many student athletes enjoy their sports, so why make them more drained by forcing them take PE for credit required to graduate?
When I took online PE, I found the lessons we learned were often things I actually experienced first-hand being on the cross country team. I get that people who don’t participate in sports may not be aware of those things, so in that case, PE is beneficial for them. While I recognize not everyone has the same experience, being a member of a team teaches you life skills that rarely anything else can. You laugh together, cry together and are surrounded by a community, a group of people who push you to do your best no matter what. PE on the other hand can be boring, repetitive and wastes people’s energy.
In a time where mental health is such a big deal, sports have proven to reduce anxiety and depression through movement. While PE also provides good physical activity, it is not the same as sports.
According to the National Association of State Board of Education, this is a Missouri regulation, so KHS is unable to change this. Rest assured that student athletes spend hours exercising and training so they get plenty of exercise. By forcing student athletes to take gym, more issues are being caused to their mental health, sports and grades. PE can be good for some people, but for athletes, we already have enough going on in our lives.
Despite all this, taking gym can be beneficial for athletes because it opens a wide variety of opportunities to try. Additionally, it takes out the competitive nature that sports bring out so intensely. Because of this, some students may find that taking gym class can challenge them to try new sports without bringing the heat of competition.
The point is, no student athlete should have to take PE unless they only play a sport for less than two seasons in their high school career. Playing sports has so many benefits, and gym class risks undermining some of them. Please don’t make us waste our time.
