“Why is Physical Education necessary?” that is the question being asked by many school district leaders and principals across the country.  While there are numerous facts out there to support the necessity of Physical Education, there are also plenty of naysayers who believe the subject is just a large waste of time and money.  The battle that many Physical Education teachers are having to fight today is to prove their subject’s worth to their schools and to their school district leaders.  “Physical Education is an integral part of the total education of every child in Kindergarten through Grade 12” (“Why Children Need Physical Education”).  This statement is provided by Red Oak Elementary’s Physical Education page. Although this is just a mission statement from an elementary schools’ website the words could not be any truer.  The effects Physical Education has on student’s development is undeniable.  Physical Education is not something to be dismissed or considered invaluable for students.  

First, let’s divulge into a few of the obvious reasons Physical Education is absolutely necessary in schools: the health benefits, the positive effect on other classes, and the necessary life skills the subject teaches and promotes.  These three reasons alone are enough to represent the profound impact Physical Education has on young and old kids.  When a person tries to think of the benefits of Physical Education, these three are usually some of the first that pops into their mind.  While there are much deeper and more complex supporting factors for Physical Education, these are the ones that need to be addressed first and foremost.

Physical Education can and should play a large role in the health of students.  Physical activity is a key component for students of all ages to maintain a healthy lifestyle.  Physical Education is one of the most effective and easy ways to get that physical activity message across.  With kids just not wanting to get out a play anymore during their leisure time, Physical Education class is really the only constant a lot of students have when it comes to physical activity.  Some people say Physical Education classes are just forcing students to be active when they do not want to be.  The argument against this statement is that Physical Education is a class just like all the other subjects such as Math, English, Science, etc.  Do you think all students want to participate in their Math classes?  Absolutely not, but it is vital for the students to participate in order to learn how to do math in order to apply it to their daily lives.  The same can be said about Physical Education.  The purpose of Physical Education class is to obviously get students active during class, but also to promote physical fitness outside of the classroom.  “Regular physical activity can help children and adolescents improve cardiorespiratory fitness, build strong bones and muscles, control weight, reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression, and reduce the risk of developing health conditions” (“Physical Activity Facts”).  Physical Education classes supply students with the necessary information to get them in the right direction towards a healthy lifestyle.  “Physical Education improves children’s muscular strength, flexibility, muscular endurance, body composition and cardiovascular endurance” (“Why Children Need Physical Education”).  Childhood obesity is one of the biggest, if not the biggest epidemics in America today.  “More than twelve million children in the United States are obese, that means one out of every six children are obese in our country” (“The State of Childhood Obesity”).  Obesity can cause a range of health problems, such as high cholesterol and blood pressure, both are risk factors for heart disease.  Physical Education is one of the few defenses out there to fight against childhood obesity.  Rather than questioning the worth and significance of the subject, districts should be putting more time and funds into improving Physical Education to equip it better for the struggle with childhood obesity.  

Physical Education has a great impact on the other general education classes.  There is a countless number of research out there that supports the claim that students need adequate amounts of physical activity throughout the school day.  Many studies have shown that students who participate in some sort of physical activity in their physical education classes perform better in their other classes.  So, when schools think they are benefiting the kids by cutting funding to Physical Education classes in order to intensify the other core subjects, they are actually hurting the children’s learning.  Exercise effects executive functioning by increasing oxygen flow to the brain, increasing brain neurotransmitters.  Topics such as math and reading depend the most on efficient and effective executive function.  Efficient and executive function is linked to physical activity.  The benefits of Physical Education in the classroom can also be related back to the health benefits.  If a child is living a healthy lifestyle then naturally their body will function at a higher level than if they are not as healthy and active.  Physical Education should always have a place in school’s curriculum if they are really serious about teaching their students.

The life skills Physical Education teaches students are skills that will benefit them for the duration of their lives.  “Physical education has always been heralded for its merits in developing teamwork, leadership and communication skills in young people” (Using PE to Teach Vital Skills).  Skills people use every day such as teamwork, sportsmanship, and handling adversity are vital in everyday life.  From all the team sports that are implemented in Physical Education classes, students learn to work together within a group of people to reach a common goal.  There are not many jobs in the world that do not require teamwork, whether that is between coworkers or workers and boss.  The sportsmanship students learn in their Physical Education class do not just apply to sports alone, sportsmanship is something that can be shown in all ways of life.  Being a good sport about a coworker getting a position you wanted, for example, or not being arrogant when things are going your way in life.  Adversity is something that people from all different walks of life must face at some point.  Physical Education class equips children with the ability to handle and react to adversity.  When kids are put on teams they are not always paired with their best friends, sometimes they may really dislike their teammates.  When life gives you lemons you have just got to make the best lemonade that you can and that is what Physical Education class pushes students to do.  Most kids whether they like who they are partnered/teamed up with or not are going to settle their differences for the time being and work together to try and win whatever game or activity they are participating in.  

Physical Education does not get the support and encouragement that it needs from schools in order to truly benefit students to the fullest.  Schools that are apart of school districts with limited funding have to try and trim as much fat as possible in order to get the funding to the core subjects.  The “fat” in most of these situations are the “less important” classes, Physical Education being one of them.  Physical Education teachers often have their class times cut significantly and are told they cannot get the equipment they need because there just is not enough money in the budget.  South Carolina high school students are only required to take one unit of Physical Education class during their four years of schooling.  If students are in a JROTC program or even sometimes band they are exempt from having to participate in a Physical Education class at all.  JROTC and Band are great programs that do require physical activity and a lot more of the principles Physical Education class implements, but they are no substitute for Physical Education.  Major support is required in order for good Physical Education to be practiced.  

Teachers cannot be expected to deliver a homerun lesson when they have about 20 minutes to do so and very limited and old equipment.  It is sad to say but this is exactly how a lot of Physical Education classes are, they are set up to fail from the beginning.  Most Physical Education classes are around fifty minutes long at the most; subtract ten minutes from that for the students to change into their gym clothes, another ten to stretch and get warmed up, then ten more change back into their regular clothes.  This leaves the teacher with about twenty minutes, give or take, to implement a worthwhile lesson.  Time constraints have been a slow killer of Physical Education for years and it will continue to be if the subject does not get the support it deserves.  This issue can be resolved if districts and schools will give Physical Education class the support it deserves.  Schools have got to buy in to having Physical Education play a moderately significant role in the student’s day-to-day schedule.  Should Physical Education class last four hours? Absolutely not, but at least an hour and a half is required in order to deliver a strong lesson while also allowing students the proper amount of time to dress, undress, and stretch accordingly.

Schools often do not supply Physical Education classes with the proper equipment in order to have a completely safe and fruitful lesson.  Most schools would rather throw their money at something else than to buy new basketballs for a basketball unit or the proper padding needed to put on certain dangerous areas in the gym.  Improper or just not enough equipment can cause lessons to be less enriching but more importantly unsafe.  The truly great Physical Education teachers can take just about any equipment, no matter how ragged, and come up with a fruitful lesson.  Just like every subject though, not all Physical Education teachers are “rock stars” at their profession.  Good equipment can close a lot of the gap between great and average teachers.  Good equipment can make a good Physical Education teacher great, a decent one good, and a bad one decent while also ensuring the children’s safety all at the same time.  Funding from schools and their districts are needed in order to supply classes with the proper tools to succeed.  

Both limited class time and poor equipment have been issues in Physical Education classes for some time now, but things really got worse as a result of the No Child Left Behind Act.  This law, while having good intentions, is one of the biggest killers of Physical Education as a whole.  If states are required to test students in reading and math and report their results to the government then of course they are going to have the school districts focus even harder on math and reading.  In turn, any extra funding or time is dedicated to these subjects and when that is not enough then the other subjects like Physical Education are cut down.  Why would you not cut down on Physical Education time and give it to something that is being tested like math class or English?  Why not use the money allotted to buy jump ropes to buy a few more books?  This law does have great intentions but it has really put a stranglehold on non-math and English classes, especially Physical Education.  Because of all the limitations teachers in this subject area have to deal with, the quality of a lot of Physical education classes suffers greatly.  This creates “bad PE” where teachers just role their one good ball out on the court and tell their students to play for the twenty minutes they have.  As a result, the athletes play and the rest of the class does nothing.  The main goal of Physical Education is to get students active in class, students are not being active when “bad PE” is taking place.  The way for Physical Education classes to be the very best they can be they need both funding and time to operate.

The other side of this argument is that Physical Education classes should not be mandatory and are not necessary or important.  This opposing argument does provide solid evidence: Physical Education could result in injury, inferiority complex, and especially bullying.  Are these claims true?  Absolutely, all of the above-mentioned cons can and do occur in Physical Education classes daily.  Just about anybody who has been in a Physical Education class that practices “bad PE” can attest to this.  The opposition wants to throw all of the blame for these actions on all Physical Education teachers and Physical Education as a whole.  There are most certainly Physical Education teachers in this world who have absolutely no business dealing with children.  The one piece of information that is often not considered when Physical Education is being dissected is who hires those terrible teachers?  Who interviews and evaluates the people who put children in these terrible situations and says “hey, I think this person would fit well on our staff”?  The answer to that question is leadership in schools.  Most principals have a big say in who does and does not get hired at their schools but the school districts have a large hand in these ordeals as well.  This does not mean all principles and school district leaders are terrible people who do not deserve a job, this does not mean that at all.  What this means is that Physical Education, as mentioned before, just is not taken that seriously.  The neglect does not cease with just equipment and class time, it also occurs in the hiring process.  Because the majority of school leaders consider Physical Education not important, the quality and talent of teachers in the work force suffers greatly.  If more emphasis is put on hiring quality teachers whose main priority is their student’s well-being, then all of these problems can be alleviated.  Physical Education is just like anything else in this world; the more thought and effort you put into it, the more you get out of it.  There are plenty of great Physical Education teachers in this world and even more to come.  As long as those current and aspiring teachers continue to get filtered into Physical Educator positions, Physical Education will continue to improve and erase the bad reputation it receives from those who do not know the importance of it.

In conclusion, Physical Education is of the upmost importance when it comes to giving children the education they need and deserve.  The benefits of Physical Education classes are profound.  Whether it is from a health, educational, or life skill perspective Physical Education can and will impact students.  As long as Physical Education gets the support it needs from school district leaders and principals the class will be beneficial and hold loads of value.  Once one sees all the positive effects Physical Education can have on students, they can see the necessity of the subject and truly appreciate it.  Physical Education is a necessity and is crucial towards building a foundation for a healthy and successful lifestyle.
