The Fitness Gram PACER Test is a test that is given multiple times throughout the year to elementary to high school students in the United States. The PACER tests students' aerobic capacity by having them run a 20-meter distance in a certain amount of time. This happens repetitively as the time they have to run each 20 meters starts to decrease. You get one mistake and then you are out. Students, regardless of their athletic abilities are told to run as much as they can and for as long as they can. Some schools even grade the students on how long they can keep going. Now, this might seems fine to some people but the physical and mental damage it could do to kids is not at all fine.

Physically, the PACER can harmfully affect kids and teens. After running for such an extensive amount of time, children may feel nauseous, dizzy, overheated, or lightheaded. The students strive for perfection or for the letter A to appear in their grade books although it could make them faint. The PACER test is a strain on people's bodies especially those who are not usually doing high intensive training daily. Physically, the PACER test can do temporary damage but mentally the damage may be everlasting. Students running the pacer may feel peer pressured to keep running even after they have reached their maximum heart rates. This is insanely dangerous. It could be because they do not want to be the first one out or simply just because their best friend is still in. This could lead to extreme bullying. Being the first one out could lead to students feeling uncomfortable and unconfident about themselves and losing resilience in other aspects of their lives. Another reason students feel the ever-longing urge to keep going is the damage it could do to their grades. Surprisingly, this torturous test is graded in some schools. Some students would rather put their health on the line than get a failing grade. All this damage and for what? To test how physically fit a student is? The damage this test has done and will continue to do is not worth the result if we don’t make a change.

This test should be built around the student's individual health and wellbeing instead of the student's health being centered around the test.

Please help me by signing this petition and spreading the information to many students and parents across the nation.