How important is Physical education to us?

Hello everyone, I think that physical education is very important to us, and now they are thinking about cutting out of students every day schedule. Some kids/ students, will not or attempt to excercise by themselvies. SO it is important that since school forces them, and it is a requirement for them to pass Phy. Edu to pass their grade, students will excersie more and keep themselvies in a good shape. I do not like the idea of them cutting physical education off. Some kids are getting big from lack of excercise, and this is not healthy, mentally and physically. Some people come to school just to be called FAT BOY or FAT ASS all day, now that i do not think is fair. I am posting this because it has been bothering me for awhile now, and i wanted to hear what you guys think. I just can't stand to see these kids that can loose their weight if they try, get made fun of. Sometimes i wish i can do something to help it, but no body listens to me eaccept my fellow peer leaders. So, i think cutting physical education will definetely increase the number of unhealthy kids. This as i heard in the news can also increase the possibilities of young kids having a heart attack, and dying young, now this, god is my witness i do not want to hear about or see. I know we do not want a world in which kids have heart attacks, and die early or young. It was just bothering me, and i thank you guys for hearing me out.

I 100% agree. I stopped Phys. Ed. in grade 10, and I stopped playing hockey after grade 12. I am now in 3rd year university, and well let's just say I put on a few pounds. I am probably 15-20 pounds heavier than when I stopped sports altogether. I have not grown any height-wise, just waist-wise. I have been going to the gym for the past few months and it's done me a world of good. Between weight-lifting and cardio work outs I have dropped 10 pounds of fat, and feel way better about myself (I also try to cut as much fat out of my diet as possible) Phys. Ed. does a body good, and now that I've experienced life with and without it, I'd say we need more of it (at least 1 hour per day!)

ebo, whos talking about cutting out gym?

Ebo, what you say is indeed sad...kids can be cruel. As Algaen pointed out, individual responsibility is the key, here. As for children under the age of 18, I think the parents should be the ones ultimately responsible for their child's health. Even though, obviously, physical education is a benefit to our health....my final opinion is that we depend too heavily on the government to 'save us from ourselves.'

Thats is true, but what can a parent do if they tell their kids to excercise and they decide that they wouldn't. To a parent, forcing their child to excercise will not give them a good feeling. I know this because of a friend of mine. His mom tells him to excercise, but he refuses to. He is 14 years old weighing 280 pounds, I try to help him and he says that he can't. Sometimes he feels like he was going to faint. I don't try to force him anymore because i do not want him to get hurt in the process of making his body healthier, if i do not feel right foring my friend, do you think his [parents will feel right forcing him? As for him working out by himself it is the impossible, so we need things like school, and the physical ed. to push him, make him reach a point that we the friends and parents can't force him to reach. Tedob1, I saw it on AbC, they were discussing the fact that they are thinking about cutting physical ed. I saw it awhile agao, and it has been bothering me ever since. -Ebo

Well, it is their [parents] responsibility to ensure that their children are healthy. The school/government does not need to be involved in such matters. It is really an annoyance to some of the students that could fit in better/other classes during that time, which are more beneficial to their case.

Hey hypercube, are you telling me that it is fair that these kids get called all those names, just because you think some kids want more time in classes? Well think again my friend, If you were a heavy kid, or was ever a heavy kid, I don't think that you would want more class time, or school at all after the way they are going to treat you.

just to point out, it's not *just* exercise for some people. for some, (many would probably be more accurate) genetics and biology come in to play. for instance, i do close to no cardiovascular exercise ever, and every couple of days i'll life my freeweights or do pushups, etc. at about 5'11&1/2", i weight 140lbs with around 5.5% body fat. i've been trying to watch what i eat, recently, but regardless, i put on almost no weight ever.

but yes, i do think wholeheartedly that people should exercise more than we are nowadays. because everything is moderated, people become accustomed to having things done for them. this leads us to be rather weak and inactive, so even the idea of exercise becomes tiring.

i say you should help yourself before it's too late...

I think it's ridiculous to remove phys ed from school. When I was in school, too many years ago to mention, it was explained that physical education was required for two reasons. One, obviously for fitness. The other was to try to instill it as a habit that we would continue to follow after we graduated. Exercise is as important for the mind as for the body.

I walk or jog a half hour a day in the morning, and in the afternoon do about 20 minutes for the upper body. I've done this regimen faithfully for over 30 yrs and don't feel good if I miss more than 2 days in a row.

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Originally posted here by ebo
Hey hypercube, are you telling me that it is fair that these kids get called all those names, just because you think some kids want more time in classes? Well think again my friend, If you were a heavy kid, or was ever a heavy kid, I don't think that you would want more class time, or school at all after the way they are going to treat you.

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So, PE is going to be a good thing for fat kids who are getting teased? You're HS is obviously very different than mine, then.

Where I am the government wants to make PE mandatory in grade 11 and 12, and it's a horrible idea. I have to waste a bunch of time so that some politician can look like he's making positive political change? It won't accomplish anything except that. A few hours of gym won't do anything signifcant to help people.

Let's see what I could do with a time block: I could sleep in, getitng valuable hours that I've been missing over the course of the year. I could study for that big test I have coming up. Oh no wait, I can't do those tihngs, I have to go throw a ball around. Oh well.

PE is fine and good if it's something you want to do, but making it mandatory in high school is a horrible idea.

Ebo, P.E. is a very under-rated course. Children and young adults growing up today lead much more of a relaxed lifestyle than we "old doods" did. I grew up in a generation that did not have PC's, PS2's and the like to entertain us during recreational time. Instead, we were outside playing hide and seek, building forts, climbing the mountains (at least in my neck of the woods) and such. Yet the children of today are not as predisposed to entertain themselves in a physical manner. They work out their thumbs and thats pretty well the extent of it. Physical fitness as a youth is, IMHO, a very important facet of life, as it provides a foundation of good health that can carry over into adulthood.

me personally am a senior school student. and in lower school, we were forced to do phy ed, however, i am a physicall fit person and was able to negociate to the principal to stop my self doing any phy ed. the main reason for this is that i am a computer person and dont like any form of physical doing. but i am still fit and am able to our run the top person at our school.

i beleive that fat people in the school yard are more likely to be bullied when they are playing sport due to thier lack of skills and motovation. this means that 90% of bullieing happens out on the playing field and not in the class room, and that gives good cause to make phys ed non-compulsory.

Sorry for my rambleing, it really hot.

Personally I agree with mathgirl kids can be very cruel, especially when it comes to over weight.But the only thing I want to stress is the fact to get behind the real issue as to why they are over weight.Like spyrul has pointed out it could be a genetic disorder,stress(due to varios factors which can cotribute to this),there could also be an illness which might cause them to have to take medicine like cortisone which will definitely increase weight gain if used for a long period of time.I personally have someone using cortisone on a daily basis and I can tell you it is hell for her.Everybody is of the assumption that it is because of a eating disorder that she has gained such a lot of weigt .I think each case should be evaluated on merit and not just because of looks.I fully support physical education if you are a healthy person.You can only benefit from it.

My simpathy to all overweight people because I live with such a person,and it is a daily battle just to motivate them to also feel dignified and good about themselves.Love them for the person they are and stop judging them by their looks.

regards
vanman:)

I very much so agree with your point's ebo, but I have to say a few things. First, losing weight isn't all about excercise and all that. Alot of it is (like spyrul said) Genetics and Dieting. If their parent's were overweight or something of the like, it might be passed down. This can factor in as an attribute to the person's genetic code, something they can't control. Another factor is dieting, which play's a large part. If the person eat's nothing but junk food, or just constantly eats without monitering the food he eats, that excercise will be a waste. People need to watch the calories/cholesterol factor on foods and try to balance that out.

I think it was allenb who made an interesting point saying that today's youth isn't as primitive as the youth of say, 30 to 40 years ago. These day's, kid's like their PS2, PC's, and their McDonalds. It's as simple as that, the youth have not much physical involvement that requires an excercising activity, and if they do it's deteriorated by the foods they eat.

i think getting rid PE is a great idea. personally i hated it i just found it so boaring and pointless when i could be doing more intresting things, i did not like any of the things we done and so i very rareley went to any lessons. But i am not a un-fit person i skate and mountainbike alot(almost everyday). Also thing of the people who are going to be doing the worst in the sports, the unfit people are then going to be laughed at which will make them less likey to want to do any sports.
trials

phys ed is important, but i think the waqy they impliment it is quite retarded... not everyone os at the same physical level. and not everyone can do some of the **** that they ask us to do.

Phy Eds is really important ,I know is kind of hard to do it but ..you need to have balance mentally and physically, you need to get exercise.
If you can't get it in your school, you can get it somewhere else (gym,etc...)

IMO the people wanting to abolish the PE program in schools see profit potential in doing this and are in fact the same people sueing McDonald's for making them fat! ;)

No really... PE is important when you are young and full of energy. It would be unhealthy to keep a 7 year old in school for 7 hours with no PE class or recess.

BUT why should PE be required in High School? Kids are old enough to know how to excercise and that it's important for them to do so. High School is stressfull enough with making good grades to count towards college. The last thing on their mind should be worring about running the mile for a grade!

Are there actually real, tangible benefits to High School gym? Is forty minutes of mild exercise twice a week (at most) really helpful? No offense to anyone, but the overweight people in my gym class don't look like they lose weight between classes. And personally, I don't feel any benefit after being physically educated.

Something else that's bothered me about gym: Dodge ball is being banned in some schools. That bothers me. A lot. My whole life, I've been picked close to last for sports even though I have much more athletic ability than I've ever been given credit for. I don't get the ball much during team sports. But dodge ball is different. All you have to do is get out of the way of the ball. Its a helluva lot more fun than running up and down the basketball court, never touching the ball. Off topic I know, but I needed to rant.