Should public high schools force you to take gym or physical education?

[Ebowed]

I say no.  Gym class treats students like mindless robots whose grade depends on being able to meet some idiot physical standard the state came up with.  And no, I don't think taking forced P.E. out of the school cirriculum has anything to do with the nation getting fatter.  I think that has more to do with the fast food restaraunts and lack of health awareness.  People can take care of their bodies without the school's help, if they can't, then it's their problem.

[A18]

No, but they shouldn't really make you take anything. Your parents should. Since I think you mean for a diploma, definitely not, but it'd be better if they'd just give you credit for the subjects you took, and let colleges judge for themselves.

[Gabu]

No.  PE was always a huge waste of time.  Being horrible at most sports, it was always the most dreaded class in school for me and I was so relieved when I didn't have to take it anymore.

[??????????]

Yes. Exercise is very important but I don't think the current way things are set up they encourage enough real exercise in PE classes.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Given that academics is causing the crowding out of the free time at school that kids need for physical activity, it appears that the only way to redress the balance is to add PE to take the place of recess.  That’s one thing modern education fails to recognize, that kids are not geared to spending 6 straight hours a day at desks with only a small lunch break. This is but one way that treating children as miniature adults is harmful.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Hell no, I almost didn't graduate because of gym. Walking 2 miles each way to school should have been good enough. There you have it. Gym was my worst subject.

[Platypus]

Yes, until the end of year 10. (I believe in the US, that's sophomore..?)

[angus]

Yes, until the end of year 10. (I believe in the US, that's sophomore..?)

why stop there?

[Wakie]

I think a general Health class is acceptable.  It should focus on excercise and healthy eating/living.

[WalterMitty]

yes although i wasnt too fond of taking it.

[angus]

I think a general Health class is acceptable.  It should focus on excercise and healthy eating/living.

good point.  Walter may not have been fond of his since it may have been boring.  Maybe giving kids a basketball and saying, take this up to the bleachers and sit there and smoke cigarettes for an hour and gossip about the birds and bees and mean teachers, then shower and go to literature isn't the best approach for long-term health education. 

[Akno21]

Given the state of our educational system, no.

Gym as it stands will not make you thinner, and gym that actually does that would be hell.

[Jake]

Course, gym is the best class all day.  I have it right after C++, and by the time I've listened to that BS for 2 hours, I'm ready for some exercise.  I think that Gym class should be divided by athletic ability. The kids who aren't good at sports or that don't want to play can take General PE and the kids who want to take gym and exercise should take advanced PE. That way, the games become funner and the kids who aren't good, don't have to compete against the better athletes.  BTW, floor hockey is the greatest gym sport ever.

[Alcon]

Yes, as long as the grade is effort and improvement, not physical ability.

[ian]

NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  I feel pretty strongly about this: if you don't want to be physical in any way, shape, or form, then you shouldn't have to!

[Blerpiez]

At my school,  PE is required for grades 9-11.  You must take certain physical classes, but they are all graded by effort and never by physical ability.  I think this is a good system.

[Akno21]

BTW, floor hockey is the greatest gym sport ever.

Yes! We were down 2-1, and I scored with 18 and 3 seconds left to win the game today. I love sports where small white guys like me end up beating the big black guys (I don't want to sound racist). Floor hockey is one of the few.

[Jake]

Yep, and they give you sticks and don't really regulate how you use them. Got a two inch slash right below my knee today and I tripped up someone else and sent them flying into the bleachers on the side. Awesome game.

[angus]

Gym as it stands will not make you thinner,

one hopes not!  concentration camps and prison makes you thinner, you certainly don't need to spend school money on that.  but I'm just saying you might want to adjust the curriculum so that it's a bit different.  My memories of gym:  just as I described above.  Except that unlike walter, I actually enjoyed the gossip, the smoking, and the opportunities to hook up which PE afforded.  But if I'm sending my kid to school on my tax dollars, then I'm like every parent:  Don't do as I do, do as I say.  And I say learn to eat right, exercise.  We don't have to have them all buffed up like the governator, but we would like them to learn healthier habits than the booze and drug-infested habits of our own youth.

[Akno21]

Yep, and they give you sticks and don't really regulate how you use them. Got a two inch slash right below my knee today and I tripped up someone else and sent them flying into the bleachers on the side. Awesome game.

My worst injury was getting hit right in the shin (no pads) with the puck, and of course the guy who shot it has played hockey for ages and could probably score on the whole team by himself. Had a bruise for a while.

My strategy is to shoot as much as possible, since teams usually stick the worst players at defense, so scoring from far away isn't very hard.

[Fmr. Gov. NickG]

I never liked gym, but we were certainly never graded on our physical abilities; basically, just our participation.  And I only had to take one year of it in high school, and mostly did tennis and floor hockey.  Based on those lax standards, I have no problem with the requirement.

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

I never liked gym, but we were certainly never graded on our physical abilities; basically, just our participation.  And I only had to take one year of it in high school, and mostly did tennis and floor hockey.  Based on those lax standards, I have no problem with the requirement.

I thought every HS required gym for all 4 years.

[Akno21]

I never liked gym, but we were certainly never graded on our physical abilities; basically, just our participation.  And I only had to take one year of it in high school, and mostly did tennis and floor hockey.  Based on those lax standards, I have no problem with the requirement.

I thought every HS required gym for all 4 years.

No, in fact mine only needs half a year.

[Jake]

We take gym for half the year, for 40 minutes a day.  Fresh/Soph/Senior years

[Bandit3 the Worker]

Again, I vote no.

After the garbage that went on in my high school, it's impossible to see how anyone could vote any other way.