Snow falls outside the FAB, where PHE classes take place (Nadija T./The Buchof Bulletin).
By Nadija T., Grade 9
“I was one of the girls who stood in a corner and yelled, like absolutely shrieked when a ball came near them,” Dora F., Grade 9, said.
Not all senior school students at MIS believe that PE is a good subject for them, some dread when they see the lesson block on their schedule. If PE was an elective for all of senior school, all students would benefit greatly.
Dora said she always finds herself late to classes, even late for some tests. There is a PE lesson scheduled for the last lesson of the day. The majority of the students there don’t change out of their PE clothes; which typically aren’t weather-appropriate, just so that they won’t miss their bus.
“I hate changing, it’s so annoying,” Dora said.
I think the kids who enjoy PE would actually find themselves having more fun if all the students who don’t like PE weren’t participating. Students who enjoy PE are often held back when it comes to working in teams, or needing to do partner work with those who don’t share the same conviction to the activity. When there is a student who doesn’t want to put in the effort, it can cause those who enjoy the subject to end up matching the lethargic energy, making the whole experience worse for everyone.
“He wants to be everything, goes around and be extremely into it and he’s putting in his 100%, but I just want to put in 25%,” Melek Z., Grade 9, said about another student.
For the students who find PE to not be their best subject, it can bring down their grade average, just because they can’t throw a ball. This school offers students the chance to take the SATs and ACTs and in the United States, colleges mainly focus on GPAs. If PE is as harshly graded as it is for the students who struggle with PE curriculum their GPAs would suffer because of it.
“I would rather be studying,” Dora said.
Students at MIS care about their grades and wish that PE would not cause them to suffer this much.
“Instead of doing PE four times a week, I could just use those two hours instead to do math, or do science and improve my grades,” Melek said.
With this, we beg the PE department to rethink the mandatory PE classes that have caused students a severe amount of stress, and a gradual dislike of the subject.