Here's my story. (See end of essay for a brief summary)

I am a 7th grader who lives in California, and I am concerned with the requirements surrounding Physical Education in middle/high schools. I feel strongly that it's absurd for an entire hour of school to be spent teaching and practicing P.E. I believe that it is a waste of time and an inconvenience. Before I advance in my explanation, allow me to introduce myself further. I have lived in the U.S. my entire life, and I’ve always enjoyed attending school. I am passionate about learning, and I love to read. I am a grammar enthusiast and I recently graduated 6th grade with a 4.0 GPA. As I mentioned, I’ve always come to school with a positive view of our education system, until I got to 6th grade. We began training vigorously for a Junior High that is known to have an intense Physical Education program. They pride themselves on the idea of treating their children as if they are members of the military, focusing on sharpness and technique. The idea of attending this school churned in my stomach. This led me to orchestrate this letter.

I am a person who believes that physical health is extremely important. From what I’ve observed, P.E. is anything but healthy, not just physically, but mentally. If a person wishes to have a healthy lifestyle and a fit physique, they will set goals to achieve those visions. For example, they may stop buying unhealthy food and beverages from the grocery store and run 1 mile every morning before work. Something that every physical trainer or expert knows, is that consistency is key. Having a “healthy” body for 9 months during school time is great; however, if a student is not concerned with meeting personal goals, they will be unsuccessful in their wishes. That means that when summer hits, they will go right back to where they started. As they grow older, they will lose their health status and it will be purely up to them to fix it. P.E. does not help kids understand that they need to have motivation and set goals because it is best for them. Instead, schools are putting the idea that they must do it and meet a goal in a strict timer manner rather than at their own pace or in their way. In addition, if they do not meet the goal (which has been unpersonalized to them and most times unrealistically set) they will get a failing grade. I see no improvement with my peers as we have struggled to climb the ladder of Physical Education. My peers are always eating unhealthy foods, and practicing bad habits like stress eating and procrastination. They also must focus on homework and other stressful tasks whether at school or in their personal life. Not everyone has a goal that revolves around fitness. Overall, anybody who is not consistent, will not see improvement or meet their goals, whether these goals are being set for them or not. As of right now, the obesity rate in children is 19.7% and the rate in adults is 41.9%. Physical Education is a program that teaches kids all you have to do to get into a healthy lifestyle is exercise, which is merely 1/4 of what you have to do to achieve a healthy body and mind. The program completely excuses the fact that you must be mindful of the foods and beverages you eat, and practice self-care for mental health. Yes, we are constantly being reminded to do these things, but no child whose parents buy them these foods will listen. Most parents who buy their child food will not change what they purchase at the store because of what a school is telling them. If we are speaking in all honesty, the majority of parents do not hold a positive view of our education system. Bullying, discrimination, and poor student achievement are all factors of this. Why would a parent take influence from a school that they do not agree with? On the other hand, parents who do agree with this might not be able to adhere to the recommendations. Healthy foods are extremely expensive and the average household is not able to purchase healthy snacks for their child. This means that the children will continue to end up with unhealthy foods. Most children believe that they know better than what is being told to them, so they don’t care to avoid those foods. After all of this, their body is in horrible shape and they must do intense exercise correctly or receive an F.

Physical Education in junior high and high school requires you to change out of your clothes and into a strict uniform. Some junior highs make the clothing shorts, which means you have to wear the shorts, and your only option is to wear leggings underneath. This is inconvenient for religious students or students who practice modesty. Students are forced to head back to class sweaty and exhausted. Not only is it unfavorable to have to change out of your clothes and back into them, but it breaks what students are promised. In slideshows that are given directly by the California Department of Education (CDE), it explain how students have a right to feel comfortable and practice consent and saying no when they feel uncomfortable in a situation. Nobody wants to change in the same room as their peers, it is uncomfortable and if there was consent that had to be given there would be no student who agreed. What is the point of telling students they have the right to say no and not consent to something if they feel uncomfortable if they are forced to do things they do not feel comfortable doing? School is not optional, and as of right now, P.E. isn’t either. The CDE is not only teaching kids that they are entitled to take away those rights that they themselves promised to the children but also teaching them that there is nothing you can do if you don’t like something. Most teachers constantly tell students that it’s “not a big deal” and it “doesn’t matter”, rather than influencing us to make a change and stand up for our rights.

Finally, P.E. is shifting kids' views on exercise. Students begin to view exercise as a chore and not a privilege because they must do it whether they like it or not. Some students are not able to be physically active because of their life at home and some students do enjoy taking a run at P.E. We should consider all sides of this argument, and come to a compromise. After considering it for a few months now, the best possible way to allow all sides of the argument to be happy is to make P.E. optional. This means that students who choose to exercise will be able to do so with a gym teacher. This also means that fewer teachers who work in the P.E. field lose their jobs. If a child wishes to stretch or do yoga instead, they may also do so. Students who do not wish to participate may sit on a bench and work on homework, assignments, or reading a book. Essentially, anything that is productive and beneficial for the student. If a child has many assignments that they are behind on, this is the perfect opportunity to allow them to have an hour to catch up. I believe this may even boost grades and state testing results. Some children do not have an easily accessible quiet place to study because of their life at home, or even their schedule after school. As I’ve explained, you must be motivated and willing to make a change in your health to do so. Forcing children to participate in P.E. is not beneficial to their physical or mental health. Schools should allow any child to participate in P.E. meaning they do not have to wear a specific outfit. If a student is not dressed for it, they have no intention of doing it. We can enforce being productive and perhaps separate kids to ensure that they are getting work done. If schools still want kids to be motivated they can set up reward programs to make kids want to participate and earn a fun award. This looks something like “If you participate in P.E. every day you get a fun water balloon day at the end of the year and a special badge.” or even a smaller goal, like a monthly reward.

In conclusion, the current P.E. system fails to consider the needs and wants of students and should be changed. Not only is it hypocritical for schools to force students to do things they are uncomfortable with but it is a waste of time for students who have no drive to reach their goals. Physical Education is something that is outdated and doesn't support the needs of students. I don't have much influence or power when it comes to official decisions like these but I hope whoever is reading this takes into consideration the point of view of a student and helps me make a change for our future generations to come.
 

Summary: 

Physical Education in California schools is outdated, inconvenient, and a waste of time. It is extremely unfortunate to have to change by your peers with no privacy at all. Not only that, but P.E. is less beneficial to children as most adults think. It forces children to participate in military-like exercises and the majority of students dislike the activities being done, and may be discouraged when being forced to do them. This creates a negative relationship with exercise for the student. Of course, I understand that every student has an opinion on this, and I believe that coming to a compromise where both sides of the student party can be heard is necessary. We can do this by allowing P.E. to be optional. This means that the children who want to do P.E. can, and the children who don't want to, can catch up on school work/educational activities such as reading, studying, etc. For more in-depth information, check out the main story. 

Schools need to listen to the needs and wants of our students and by signing this petition you are helping me and over 100,000+ children be heard.

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