Physical Education should be taught differently than it currently is.

1. First off, the "facts" my opponent uses would not apply to a society where physical activity is imposed on people since that has not been studied and is not the case right now so can not be studied presently. It's an unfortunate even that those studies hadn't taken place during the slavery period of U.S. history since that would be imposed physical activity... just a form that was extremely profitable to a slaveholder. There is an increased academic performance in students who are musically active but do we force them to play their instruments or sing out of school for certain times daily? Do we even force them to take the classes? No. Plenty of students are good academically and not active, and having much much more PE might not necessarily increase these benefits, so they do not apply. 2. My opponent states that childhood obesity is over 50% and that is actually a false statistic. The CDC states that only 17% of children between 2 and 19 are obese, this 50% is completely and blatantly a made-up number.[1] Additionally, America is not a perfect country. We aren't even close to the best in so many other fields, if my opponent is worried about us only being average in terms of physical health, aren't there bigger issues overhead? What about our placement in the global economy? Or the fact that we really don't care that much about our environment? No, we're going to focus on changing our "C" in health rather than fix our economy and the pollution. 3. If physical fitness REQUIRES discrimination, then why should it be imposed? That draws parallels to the segregation of blacks and whites in the sense that the obese or overweight people are less than the skinny people. Why would anyone WANT governmentally enforced and lawfully imposed discrimination against any group of people?! How could anyone support anything like that? Especially if that person is CONTENT with their body weight and does not wish to change it but it is wrong in my opponent's eyes, the plan PRO suggests is discrimination and would be something that some people just wouldn't want. How would you feel if someone MADE you dye your hair if they thought that your hair color was the wrong color? 4. The truth is about the diet logs is that if they were imposed by the government, it would be the exact definition of socialism. It is a persons choice when it comes to their diets. If we imposed a certain way of eating, it not only be completely dissatisfying to the common person, but ruin industries in snack foods, and damage economies. Did you want that chocolate? I'm sorry, you can't have it! It goes against your government standardized diet log. Here, have a luscious brussel sprout instead! 5. I press my opponent to state what exactly is wrong with having a physical fitness plan on your own? What exactly is the problem with being under or over the recommended body weight? What if the individual feels comfortable that way and it is the way that they want to look? And what happens to the people that the fitness programs stress out? Now they're doing WORSE in their school work but all for the sake of fitness right?! The weight discrimination sure can't help either. When there is such a high standard for people's appearance, and quite a few people feel uncomfortable with their weight, a system based on weight discrimination will cause lower self-esteem, a lack of self-worth, a feeling that one is "ugly" and a rise in suicide and suicide attempts, as all discrimination causes. We could expect a LACK of good school work since there will be students stressed from exercise and ones feeling put-down from the discrimination the plan advocates. 6. The first argument given by my opponent is speculation. The second source was made in 2008 and the first was from the National Association for Sport and Physical Education which is an extremely credible source and we can assume it is recent and close in date to the first source. Therefore it is plausible that there is a correlation in these statistics and PRO has no argument here. As for the diet, it should still be left up to an individuals choice, but a better plan for the health of the people would be to reward companies who offer foods for sale that are healthy rather than full of chemicals and hormones. Yet, as the foods you eat are your own choice, my opponents point regarding diet doesn't exactly apply here since the people are CHOOSING to eat those fried foods and the people of Colorado just eat better. There is always that McDonalds right down the street, and then there's always the choice of something organic and healthy. 7. While fitness programs can be strenuous, the problem is, what if the students don't want to participate in such an activity? What if it would not lead to their goal for fitness and appearance? This entire plan disregards the individuals opinion and would not satisfy anyone since it quite frankly doesn't CARE what they think. Maybe they just don't wish to have muscles? Why would they exercise in a strenuous way if that's not their goal or they don't think it's worth it? Again, bodily discrimination is what is being advocated in this plan for fitness, the goal being an extremely biased and hateful society that shuns the obese people to the point of violence over the number they get when they step on the scale. Petty, isnt it? 8. While healthy can sometimes increase a person's happiness, imposed fitness plans are not the way to be healthy and will only stress people out. There is an even more significant correlation between free will and happiness. Unfortunately, to be healthy, you lose free will. Free will provides more happiness than health, so overall in a fitness-imposed society, the people would be less happy, healthy, but slaves to the government over that health. The slaves of America definitely got plenty of exercise, but were they happy? No, they had no free will, how could they be?! 1 http://www.cdc.gov...