When many students enter high school, they’re excited to have the opportunity to choose some of their classes. And despite being limited to one true elective due to foreign language and gym requirements, most look forward to the day when they can choose more: when gym is over sophomore year. But with new movements being passed, incoming freshmen next year will face a daunting reality. They’ll have to take gym for all four years.
Add this to Fairfax County’s foreign language, fine art and new finance requirements, and this limits students to one elective per year until they complete the bare minimum language requirement, or senior year when they can pick their science and math classes. And when compared to students who have had the chance to take other classes, students who do not have available elective slots due to county requirements will have a less competitive edge in a college applicant pool.
“I don’t think colleges would be all that enthusiastic about a kid who has been in gym all four years, versus a kid who had explored their options and tried some new things,” said junior Emily Bulkeley. She went on to add that high school was a better place to explore interests than college, since you don’t have to pay for high school courses.
Additionally, for students who play a varsity sport, gym becomes redundant and sometimes, too much. It’s not uncommon to see kids with ice bags after school, and sports injuries are a major issue among active teens. Running close to three miles in gym, and then running after school every day for sports practice can cause stress to overworked muscles, bones and joints.
And despite valid concerns over the current obesity epidemic in America, you only get out of gym and other exercise what you put into it. “If I were a freshmen, I’d be sad at the loss of an opportunity to take a wider variety of classes,” said junior Meigan McManus. “The requirement for four years of gym would be a loss of learning, especially since most kids don’t put effort into gym at all.”
Instead of forcing students to take gym classes in school, there should be a greater emphasis on nutrition and the dangers of obesity as well as methods to stay healthy. According to McManus, forcing students to take gym is “pointless because no one would fully appreciate the class because they could be pursuing their own personal interests.”