DDD's 30th debate: Physical Education SHOULD be a requirement in schools

(INTRODUCTION) Thank you for posting another argument. Now it is time to post a rebuttal. (REBUTTALS) “Physical Education classes are ineffective” I noticed a couple problems with your argument. First of all, by saying that PE classes are too short therefore ineffective is your first problem. A gym class CAN be short yet effective. Your statement has a logical fallacy known as Non-Sequitur which is Latin for “Doesn't follow” {1} Your argument is like saying that all thumbs are fingers therefore all fingers are thumbs. You can have a short gym class yet still burn calories and fat. Here, think of it this way. The average weight of a 12-year-old boy is around 90 lbs and for a girl it is 93 lbs {2}.Three average girls and Three average boys play a game of basketball for 16 minutes. The boys would burn around 92 calories while the girls would burn 95 calories {3}. Because everyone is different amount of calories could be lower or higher, however considering the obesity epidemic that has plagued world I would go with higher. The amount of time physical education done does not make it more or less effective. Second problem is that you have built yourself a strawman. By cherry picking your statistics you have built up a strawman. I will now give examples from several nations and regions. British Columbia, Canada: ”In British Columbia, Canada the government has stated in the grade one curriculum that students must participate in physical activity daily five times a week. Also the teacher is responsible for planning Daily Physical Activity (DPA) which is thirty minutes of mild to moderate physical activity a day not including curriculum physical education classes.”{4} The European Union:”European Union countries 109 minutes (range of 30-240 minutes) with clusters around 60 and 90 minutes in primary/basic schools and 101 minutes (range 45-240 minutes) with a cluster around 90 minutes in secondary and high schools”{5} Malaysia: “Pupils from primary schools to secondary schools are expected to do 2 periods or 1 hour of PE throughout the year except a week before examination.”{4} Latin America:”Central and South America (including Caribbean countries) 73 minutes in primary schools and 87 minutes in secondary schools. There is a gradual ‘tailing off’ in upper secondary (high) schools (post 16+ years) in several countries and optional courses become more evident”{5} There you go. Finally, You said that your argument negates the resolution. How? I have already proved that PE classes can be short and effective. Since I have shown that PE classes are actually effective this argument to not actually negate the resolution. “Schools have limited budgets” Again, I have a few things that upset me with this argument. You said that the educational part of school should be a higher priority than anything else. However, the well-being a of a child's bodily health is also important, like stated before, not all kids can get PE outside of school. If a school does not have enough money to keep their students healthy then they should not be a school at all. You also are going back to your previous argument to back this one up, however, I proved that you argument does not work.only some Gym classes are ineffective so why cut them out if they are important and work? A PE class can also just be one soccer ball. A simple, not special soccer ball can cost up to 20 dollars only. Gym classes do not need to have the very best and fanciest sports gear for playing, just something that will get the job done.{6} “The main alternative I will look into is educational programs to promote practices associated with healthy living such as nutritional diet and regular exercise.” Is this not what mandatory gym enforces? “regular exercise”? Also, if I may give a personal story, in my gym classes, there are tasty tuesdays, and you are recommended to make a healthy nutritious meal. “The saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," applies to this very well-- it is much more beneficial to teach students the value of actively pursuing good health (teaching them how to fish) than it is to force them to exercise for 16 minutes a day (giving them fish).” But wouldn’t both be best? In gym, you first of all get that 16 minutes a day, and secondly, if you remember a few of my points, I clearly showed you how gym actually increases long term and extra-curricular physical activity! So thus mandatory gym gives BOTH! Also, the 16 minute stuff has also been debunked. Secondly, that is what PE does, PE literally is the action teaching kids about Physical education and the importance of it, so essentially, you have just argued for us. “Not only is the presented alternative more useful in that sense, but it is also less costly, mostly because it can be carried out in a traditional classroom setting (as opposed to the new gymnasium that would have to be built to host PE classes). Such a program is clearly preferable to PE classes, and, as such, PE classes should *not* be made mandatory.” I love how you gave examples of the specific program you are talking about. *cough* You have just said the word program and then assumed that we know what exactly you are talking about. Also, even if this cost thing is true, do remember that I pointed out that a gym class can be 20 or less dollars with just a soccer ball! {6} Finally, how does your argument negate the resolution? You did not say how it negates resolution and just saying it does negate the resolution is not enough. (CONCLUSION) I thank Uchicha for this debate, Also I thank him for not forfeiting. It is nice to actually debate instead of waiting for 3 days for someone to forfeit. DDD VOTE PRO (REFERENCES) {1}http://www.theskepticsguide.org... {2}http://www.livestrong.com... {3}http://www.shapefit.com... {4}http://en.wikipedia.org... {5}http://w3.restena.lu... {6}https://answers.yahoo.com...