Advantages and Disadvantages of a Gym for Students

Did you know that, according to TIME health, only six states require that students maintain the 150 minutes of physical activity per week that is recommended? (Rochman, 2011) That’s only 12% of school systems across our nation that determined this was necessary. With all of those intelligent people on school boards who decided against the requirement, it is safe to claim that this is not necessary for any school system. In our school, physical education, or PE, is the first class that is cancelled when an assembly is to be held.

This shows that it is far less important than the other subjects, such as art, music, math, ela, science, social studies, etc. When in this class, which is only 45 minutes long, students have to dress out as well as do warm-ups. Students are given four minutes to dress out and five minutes to change back at the end of the block. Also, teachers spend about five to seven minutes taking attendance every day.

On top of that, warm-ups take at very least five minutes every day. That totals to a minimum of 19 minutes that is wasted every day.

That leaves students about 25 minutes to get equipment ready, move to their exercise location, complete the activity, and clean the equipment up at the end of the block. With this being said, you can tell that PE is not of high importance to those at our school, yet it is required, so they have to offer the class. It’s commonly suggested that many middle school and high school students have stress issues, which is partly caused from school and homework.

Get quality help now

RhizMan

Verified

Proficient in: Gym

4.9 (247)

“ Rhizman is absolutely amazing at what he does . I highly recommend him if you need an assignment done ”

+84 relevant experts are online

Hire writer

In fact, some studies say that students are far more stressed than adults (Bethune, 2014).

In an effort to help students have more time to study or complete assignments, the time that is currently used for gym could be used as a free study hall for students. At Piedmont Middle School, we have Panther Time each day for thirty minutes. This time was originally designed as a study hall, but teachers always have an extra assignment for students to do during this time. In conclusion, this “free” time only adds to stress because students are only given more work which often has to be completed at home as well. If the forty-five minutes currently used for gym was used as a free time for students, they could get more work done and therefore stress would be reduced.

They could get more work done, and help would be there if they needed it, so grades would gradually increase. Also, if students wanted physical activity as a break in the day, they could choose to do that in this time since there are plenty of ways to play games that do not require a coach or equipment. In addition to being a time-waster for students, physical education also embarreses students and makes them feel poorly about themselves. Is this what we want for our students who are already stressed to the max? For students who are obese or not athletic, gym and exercising in front of others may make them uncomfortable and/or embarrassed. Other students tend to make fun of those who cannot participate in the same way as athletic students can. This would cause them to feel poorly about themselves. Lots of students would feel more comfortable exercising at home in a more private environment.

There are other ways for them to get the exercise they need without being embarrassed by other students and teachers. Studies have even shown that exercising is best when done at your own pace, as it improves your results and prevents you from getting hurt (Why You Should Always Train At Your Own Pace, 2017). Another down-fall to physical education as a required subject is that it causes students’ GPA to fall if they have a poor grade in PE.

Coaches are very strict and if you simply forget to get rid on your gum, points are taken off your daily grade which lowers your overall average. This being said, gym actually causes some students to miss out on academic opportunities due to their overall grade/GPA being lower than it would be if they were not required to participate in gym. Also, if physical education classes were an elective rather than a requirement, the classes would be better overall because the athletic students would most-likely be the ones participating.

Also, if gym was not a required class for all students, it would actually help some students who are not as athletic. On another note, classes that have PE before some on their core classes, they may feel tired afterward, meaning that they aren’t going to do as well in those classes. This means that their grades in these classes also may be lower. Many believe that gym is necessary for students because it helps them focus more, however, it only adds to their level of stress and therefore makes their life harder. People believe this because low amounts of physical education, combined with other things such as more sleep and a healthy breakfast, can help a student to perform better on test. Despite this fact, exercise on a day-to-day basis only adds to stress levels for students.

First of all, gym requires student to have more things that they need to bring to school each day (a gym bag with clothes, shoes, and more). Also, some students will worry about how they are going to perform on physical test, especially students who are not as athletic.

To conclude, this claim is not acceptable because while gym may help with grades, it also lowers mental health for students. You may be wondering, why is this important? This class has a lasting effect for students. Not only does it change their mental health greatly, having gym every day causes students to have an increased chance on getting hurt. Injuries in gym can have lasting effects, even if it’s just a broken bone. It is best for students to work out on their own time, at their own pace to ensure that they do not get hurt during the activity.

Also, if a student’s mental health goes downhill, so to speak, it will eventually affect every aspect of their life, meaning that other bad things will happen as well. To conclude, gym can have lasting effects on middle and high school students, both mentally and physically. PE is often regarded as one of the most important classes in schools, however. with such a low percentage of schools requiring it, and the way that the class is treated within individual schools, it is safe to assume that most individuals to not agree with this topic.

Also, from a student’s standpoint, this class only adds to stress for students, not makes.