With obesity on the rise, one would think it common sense to be in support of physical education throughout high school. However, there is a lot more to this issue than first meets the eye. Looking at the big picture, one can see that PE does not belong in high schools.
Schools cannot force children to be fit. They can impress upon them the importance of exercise and make the available sports known. However, PE is not teaching anyone to be fit. Everyone knows, before high school, how to play volleyball and softball and whatever else. (In fact, my PE teacher did not even explain the rules to us, just assumed we knew them from middle school.) If someone was interested in a sport, they would have joined it. By high school, it's rather too late to pick up a competitive team sport. As such, PE is not bringing anything new to the table.
Now, one could argue that PE itself is making students exercise, but this is doubtful--if not downright false. Schools can make them play sports and "exercise," but they cannot make students put in effort. If they aren't putting in their full effort, what good is it doing? Not much at all.
Focusing on "traditional" exercise options like team sports and running only scares people away. But one can't very well go hiking in PE. Or fence. Or kayak. In this way, PE is incredibly limited and drives students away from anything that might be deemed "exercise."
The main reason PE doesn't belong in high schools, though, is that it eats up valuable space in the student's schedule. Even without sacrificing a period for PE, I am not able to fit in all the classes I find interesting. With all the other requirements, students are already severely limited in their choice of electives. PE is, to put it bluntly, a complete waste of time, and I am incredulous that schools would even consider to further restrict their students' schedules with it.
Maybe without those extra three years of "physical education" someone could take psychology. Or astronomy. Creative writing. Personal finance. Another language. But instead of actually learning (which is what schools used to be for), the student would be forced to spend 90 minutes sitting in the gym. Ze could use that time for homework, studying, or even researching a topic outside of hir assignments. No, ze has to play basketball.
Schools are for learning. High school in particular is a very important time for one's education, what with college (or careers) just a few years away. Students need to be putting their time and energies into classes relevant to their futures. People can easily find ways to exercise on their own, whether it be playing sports through a club or doing aerobics by themselves. Most people, though, will have a very hard time learning on their own. Therefore, high schools need to remember their purpose: primers for college and the work force, not fitness trainers.
Obesity is a serious problem here, I don't deny that. PE is not going fix obesity though. In the meantime, ignorance is also a serious problem, and extra academics could help. Lack of creative thought is a serious problem, and extra fine arts could help. So instead of schools putting all their time and money into an area where it won't do any good, why don't they focus on the places that could actually benefit from it?
