My opinion: Why PE should stay mandatory

By Cristian Garcia

Why P.E. Should be Mandatory

Before we had the technology we have today, everything people did involved physical movement. Everyone couldn’t just go into a store and buy food for their families to eat. People had to farm and grow all of their crops. It involved a ton of labor. People had to plow the fields, water the plants, pick the weeds, and harvest the plants. Now we have technology to most of that work. There are tractors to plow the fields, water systems to irrigate the plants, and herbicides to kill unwanted plants. Today, due to technology, a lot of people are not getting the sufficient amount of physical activities to stay healthy.

Most of public schools today, have a mandatory P.E. class, but due to the economy, it’s starting to get rid of in some schools. They believe since it’s not an academic class, it is the easiest to get rid of. According to Allgov.com only one third of California’s students are considered physically fit in 2013. The say it is due to the budget cuts for physical education.

Some people think physical education isn’t necessary. Carmen Jordan doesn’t think it should be necessary’s he says that, “Students could spend that time doing more important things, such as getting ready for the ACT or taking a college prep class.” She also says that, “the most unnecessary mandatory class.” They also argue saying that physical education isn’t working because more people are getting overweight even with the program. I disagree with her though.

There are way more pros than cons to having mandatory Physical Education. It teaches students about being healthy and gives you a daily exercise. Rob Garcia says that,” A class (P.E.) that is meant to teach students the importance of maintaining good personal health and pass along healthy habits on exercising and eating -- just like those commercials and shows you see on TV, except now you’re actually accomplishing something!” I agree with Rob Garcia.

I, being a student, agree with keeping Physical Education. It keeps us in good shape and active unlike all other classes where all we do is sitting in a desk. I can’t imagine how many more people out of shape we would have on top of the many we already do. I think most of the students enjoy Physical Education.

I disagree with people who oppose Physical Education. They say that it takes time from other academic classes. I believe a Physical Education is just as important because a person’s health is just as important as other classes. If a person isn’t healthy, what’s the use of having them full of knowledge? I think if we keep physical education a requirement just like academic classes, we’d get the best results. We would have healthy and educated people in the future.

As you can see, I believe physical education is a very important class to keep. I don’t think we should have them removed from schools.