Student-Athletes Should be Excused from Gym, Student Pens to Governor Corbett

“I decided to write this letter to Governor Corbett after looking around in gym class and reflecting on how little I was getting out of it. And it wasn’t because I, admittedly, put in minimal effort to gym class. No matter the activity in gym class, I, personally, am not getting anything out of it that I don’t already get from sports (cross country and track). Athletes already get plenty of exercise from their respective sports. Thus, the purpose of gym class is already fulfilled, and that hour once or twice a week is essentially a waste of time. Remember when you were little, and you watched that school house rock video about how a bill is drafted- and it mentions you can write a letter to a congressmen? So, that’s what I did.” – Kate Clark

Dear Governor Corbett,

My name is Katherine Clark, and I am a student in eleventh grade at Harriton High School located in Rosemont, PA. I am writing to inform you, a powerful and respected member of the Pennsylvania state government, of a recent concern that came about in my public school.

As far as I am aware, physical education is a required class for graduation in the state of Pennsylvania. However, I believe this requirement to be very faulty.

Student-athletes, like myself, spend fifteen hours a week exercising and working hard with their teammates to achieve a common goal, sacrificing time with friends, family, and to rest. Student-athletes come home from school late and must start their homework immediately in order to maintain their grades and succeed in their sport. I love my sport of track/cross country and wouldn’t have it any other way.

However, us student-athletes are forced to spend an hour once to twice a week in gym class getting exercise that is unneeded as we are already getting our fair share of exercise from sport teams. Also, gym class poses a risk for student-athletes to injure themselves, thus hindering their ability to practice their sport, which could possibly in turn hinder their ability to get recruited to top collegiate sport programs. All of this is caused by a state requirement entirely unnecessary for student-athletes. Also, as mentioned before, student-athletes have very limited time to complete their homework and spend time with family and friends. Thus, eliminating gym class from student-athlete’s schedule will free up time for them to complete their school work in a study hall or free period.

A solution for this would be to make gym class not a requirement for student-athletes in Pennsylvania’s public high schools. The proposed logistics of this could be as follows: To prevent students from joining sports teams solely to be excused from gym, the head coach of that sports team must sign off that the student is a valued, hard-working member of the team. Also, students participating in out-of-school sports should also be excused from gym class as long as their legitimate coach signs off that the student dedicates at least ten hours a week to said sport. I believe this proposed legislation is reasonable because it appears that the purpose of physical education class is to get teenagers active. No content, lessons, or knowledge are learned in physical education class. Thus, by excusing student-athletes from physical education class, they would not be missing out on anything – as they are already getting plenty of exercise from their sport.

The passing of this legislation could have three clearly positive effects on both students who participate in sports, and those who do not. By excusing student-athletes from gym, they will be less likely to get injured by, for example, by someone dropping a weight on their foot or getting a ball unintentionally thrown at their head. By freeing up an hour in the school day once or twice a week, student-athletes would have more time to complete their school work, thus freeing up more time at home for time with family and rest.

Non-athletic students would also benefit from their athletic counterparts being excused from physical education class. The physical education teachers would be able to focus more on the individual student, in turn creating the possibility of the student developing more interest in exercise. Also, the student could possibly just generally get more out of the physical education class physically and emotionally with a smaller class size of students who are at a similar physical level as them.

Also, the state budget system could also benefit from excusing student-athletes from gym class. Smaller gym classes would require less gym teachers to be hired. This could reduce spending greatly that could either be channelled to other school programs such as music or theater, or be reserved for other state budget purposes. By reducing the need for gym classes in public schools, the competition for physical education teacher jobs would increase. This competition would lead to more qualified, motivated, and caring physical education teachers to be hired- thus even greater improving the physical education class experience of non-athletic students.

I would like to genuinely thank you for considering this proposal, and also for the hard work that you do to improve both the state of Pennsylvania and the United States. I hope you take the time to consider my proposal which I am confident will have a very positive effect on all high school students regardless of interest in athletics.

Respectfully,

Katherine Clark