Joseph North

English Composition 1101

Professor Artis
December 4, 2014
Physical Educations Exemptions
Obesity is a problem that America has been facing for years, physical education is the
one class that is fixing that problem. Instead of schools encouraging physical education classes
theyre getting rid of them of giving students away to get out of physical education classes.
Because of a lack of state mandates, physical education is being reduced or eliminated in many
schools across the nation, making it more difficult to combat obesity in children, researchers
said (Dallas). Schools are allowing students to exempt PE though playing sports. Exempting PE
cuts back cost and expands the athletic programs for the school allowing them to make money.
Sports help students learn the same skills that PE teaches them (Pauli). That statement
is true but in many other cases the statement is false. In my high school and many others they
allow every sport to exempt PE, including marching band and cheerleading. You can argue that
many sports are just a rigorous as PE but (no offense) golf does not run one bit, they use there
arms to swing there clubs, but there are not swing there clubs for a full 50 minutes where in PE
you are doing something active for almost the whole entire class.
In my personal experience with the PE exemptions at my school is that many people are
just signing up for sports that they cannot really do just so they can get of PE. Our High Schools
girls tennis team has more than twice as many girls who can play at matches, so most the time

when they go to matches the girls just sit there and never play, and at practices since there are so
many girls on the team they can only practice so many girls at a time so lots of the girls dot even
get to really even practice that much during practices. Whereas thats the opposite in PE because
everyone in the class is always doing something because they have enough room in the gym for
everyone in the class to always be doing something. The same issue is happening on our swim
team too, where kids are signing up for swimming just to exempt gym. There are many kids on
our swim team this year who can barely swim the length of the pool so most the time they just
standing at the wall talking. Our swim team has three lanes and two of those lanes are way
overcrowded, that you can barely swim two lengths of the pool without swimming over top of
other kids, and the last lane that doesnt even have half the swimmers of either of the other two
lanes. The last lane that isnt over crowded is the lane of the people who can barely swim a
length of the pool and there taking away valuable lane space for the swimmers who actually care
about swimming and not just getting out of PE. But according to the school the girls who dont
ever get to play tennis on the tennis team, and the swimmers who barely can swim and just stand
at wall on swim team, get the same out it as they would get out of PE.
Quality physical education programs are needed to increase the physical competence,
health-related fitness, self-responsibility and enjoyment of physical activity for all students so
that they can be physically active for a lifetime (Kelso). As mentioned in this statement PE isnt
just hard work but they make it fun and enjoyable so you will want to stay active for the rest of
your life. Whereas the people who play sport that dont really get to play during matches and
meets will not enjoy it and will be as motivated to stay active after the sport is over.
Participation in physical activity declines as young people age (CDC). The decline in activity
as people age is due to the fact that they dont have many positive experiences with physical

activity so they dont stay physically active whereas more people who take gym have more
positive experiences with physical activity and want to continue to stay active.
I believe theres a correlation between the amounts of people taking PE, and the amount
of people overweight or obese. Over the past three decades the childhood obesity rate has more
than doubled for preschool children (ages 2-5) and adolescents (ages 12-19), and it has more than
tripled for children ages 6-11 (Kelso) Overweightness and obesity is increasing. In 2013, less
than half attended physical education classes in an average week (CDC). The amount of people
taking PE is decreasing. Overweightness and obesity is increasing as the amount of students
taking PE is decreasing. 15.2% percent of high school students had not participated in 60 or
more minutes of any kind of physical activity on any day during the 7 days of the week (CDC)
That number would go down tremendously if those students were taking PE. Overweight and
obesity, which are influenced by physical inactivity and poor diet, can increase ones risk for
diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, asthma, arthritis, and poor health status (CDC).
PE would reduce overweightness and obesity because it would eliminate the leading cause
overweightness and obesity which is inactiveness.
Cross-sectional studies reveal that, compared with sedentary individuals, active persons
are more likely to be better adjusted, to perform better on tests of cognitive functioning, to
exhibit reduced cardiovascular responses to stress, and to report fewer symptoms of anxiety and
depression (Fletcher). Not only is PE good for you and can help you prevent getting overweight
but it also helps you perform better in school. After I went to PE I always felt like I performed
better in the classes after my PE class than before it because I felt more attentive and awake than
before PE.

Physical inactivity increases ones risk for dying prematurely, dying of heart disease,
and developing diabetes, colon cancer, and high blood pressure (CDC). PE will increase your
physical activity which could possibly help prevent you from dying prematurely. Sure, you can
get out of running a mile and help your school save a few bucks. But is it really worth it? What
running a mile every now and saving a few more dollars compared to living a long healthy life.

Works Cited
Dallas, Elizabeth. Why Johnny Cant Run Health.com. 26 July. 2014. Web.
24 Nov. 2014
<http://news.health.com/2012/07/26/why-johnny-cant-run/>
Adolescent and School Health Cdc.com. 7 Oct. 2014. Web. 24 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.cdc.gov/healthyyouth/physicalactivity/facts.htm>
Kelso, Charlotte. The Importance of Physical Education Veanea.org. Web.
26 Nov. 2014
<http://www.veanea.org/home/1000.htm>
Fletcher, Gerald. Benefits and Recommendations for Physical Activity Programs for All
Americans Ahajournals.org 20 June. 1996. Web. 26 Nov. 2014.
<http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/94/4/857.full>
Pauli, Kat. PE Exemptions Need Change: State Must Change PE Exemption Policy for
Students in Club Sports Lzbearfacts.com 18 Oct. 2011. Web. 26. Nov. 2014.
<http://www.lzbearfacts.com/viewpoint/2011/10/18/pe-exemptions-need-changestate-must-change-pe-exemption-policy-for-students-in-club-sports/>