Physical Education should be taught differently than it currently is.

I agree with my opponent on the fact that physical education is a good idea and improves the health of the individuals that participate. However, they assume that only fit people participate in PE classes. While this may be generally true, there are some people, while they may not be fit, they still do their best in gym classes. Having mandatory physical education classes where students are forced into running laps and doing countless exercises is a violation to student rights. I do not believe that students should have mandatory PE but I do believe that all students should be EDUCATED on health, diet, exercise, and all of the things that amount up to a "healthy" person. I also think that the school should provide opportunities for students to exercise every day since daily exercise is considered the goal for people to be fit. I think that forcing students into taking PE is not right because, while what we have found to be generally the healthy standard for most people, may not apply to all students. Maybe there is a student who has a healthy diet, has a proper BMI and is completely healthy without exercise. Or maybe there are students who do not want to do the types of exercises that the school mandates they do and they might have exercises that work better for them. A mandated exercise routine may not be in the best interest for all students, and therefore, they should have a choice on whether they wish to participate in PE classes or not, while being educated on what is and what isn't healthy is very necessary and should be focused on instead. Defining the "healthy" person and then requiring students to live to that standard is bordering on discrimination against other body types and is unjust. 1. Fitness Logs Off of I stated previously, a fitness log would not be the way to take physical education as working out for a certain amount of time and in certain exercises would not meet the wants and needs of all of the students. Maybe a certain exercise routine works better than another. The students would not be able to do their preferred routine in a fitness log since they would be mandated into doing a school-required routine. 2. Increased discipline on participation The school has no right to determine what works best for all of the students, and they cannot expect all of them to participate if they believe that a different exercise routine would work better for them, they do not wish to exercise at all, or they are just not capable of doing the exercises. Having an A or an F in PE would not make any one student more or less fit either. A student may not wish to do the muscular exercises that the class is doing because they do not want their body to become bulky and muscular because they don't think muscles will be of any value to them. The same goes for cardio-vascular exercise as well and for all exercise in general. The school should focus on educating the students on what is generally best for them and what they recommend they do. If exercise is not an asset to the student, then having PE classes is simply a waste of their time. If a student wants exercise, it should be their own responsibility to get it. A person can be completely fit off of home exercises that do not require gym equipment. If a student wants special fitness education such as swimming or gymnastics, that is also their responsibility. Schools often don't have the equipment for those types of things. If a student is refusing to exercise, then it is up to the parents to define their body as not fit and sign them up for exercise rather than the school. Then again, if a student wishes to be obese or wishes to be skinny and have no muscles, then that is purely their choice. Attempting to make PE more "effective" would only strain the students who do not wish to do those exercises more and more, adding to the overall discontent with fitness classes. If we teach students what makes them healthy instead and leave it up to them to make their own choice to follow through with anything they want to do, then we would avoid those problems.