By Johnny See-

The discussion has carried on for many years. So what is the answer? Should school sports count as Physical Education (PE) credits? They definitely should count as credits.

Students who are taking PE because the school requires them to acquire all the necessary physical activity needed in a day, who are also involved in sports are being robbed. Robbed, meaning they are missing out on a chance to take another class or free time to relax or catch up on work that needs finishing.

Most sports offered to a student should count towards PE credits. They should count because if you participate in them, you are going to experience more physical demands in the form of workouts, exercising, and training than you would in PE. PE being a class in which time to time students play games such as kickball, dodgeball, and wiffle ball. Class time allotted to play these games is at maximum 45 minutes. The average sports practice ranges from an hour and a half to two hours, some extending towards three hours. No matter what exercise the PE instructor has the students doing, the duration won’t be for as long as if the student is involved in an extracurricular sport.

Now some people may make the argument that something learned in PE class might spark an interest in a student. Possibly an interest in something that the student will carry with them for the rest of their lives. This is not a valid argument. There is no professional dodgeball league. There is not a national wiffle ball team, and no one is going to make a living off of playing kickball. Although someone may carry a liking for something with them that they learned in PE, it won’t be something that they make a living off of. Just something they may like to do as a hobby. That hobby definitely won’t be more important than the possible class the student could have taken in place of PE.

Why schools don’t allow students acquire PE credits through extracurricular sports, I have no idea. If a student has the chance to take other, more useful, and future preparing classes than PE, why shouldn’t they be allowed to? Students all over the country would make excellent use of the extra class period. The possibilities are endless. Possibilities they are never going to have if they aren’t able to take that extra class because they are still required to take PE. That is why students who are involved in certain extracurricular activities should be able to put those hours from the sports towards PE credits.

Fun Facts:
MVHS offers 11 different sports.
Archery would make 12 if
counted. Some consider it a club.

All sports take place
outside of school.
This would allow for extra
classes to be taken,
considering they wouldn’t
interfere with a school
schedule.

In California,
students all over are trying
to get the rule changed.
But it is rare that you find
a school where it has been
changed in the United States.
(Percentages N/A)