state mandated physical education Options

[*Statues/Shadows*]

There are some ridiculously disturbing things going on in Georgia's legislature right now. Most significantly, the senate is this week voting to pass a bill that would in essense ELIMINATE MUSIC EDUCATION IN PUBLIC SCHOOLS, effective NEXT YEAR. What bill could possibly be worth this?

One mandating 30 minutes of Phys Ed daily for grades K-5; 45 minutes daily for grades 6-8, apparently.

If this bill were to pass, schools would be required not only to make time each day for this (time which they would get from fine arts classes, since acedemics coiuldn't be sacrificed), but also have to hire more PE staff (the funding from which would come from those same "less necessary" classes' staff). Because of these cutbacks, the only accommodation being made to arts programs is the allowance of beginning level courses TWO DAYS A WEEK STARTING IN THE 7TH GRADE. This is later a year or two less playing and 2/5 the actual classes than most schools have now. No band or orchestra can be successful under these conditions.

Currently, there have been 42 yeas and 7 nays (assuming I read things right. To be honest, some stuff on the page kind of confuses me, so I might not be.)

http://www.ciprg.com/ss/legdb_detail.asp?C...ssa&L_ID=170559

Is there any f**king way that this is at all fair? Or rather, to make this more debatable, are there really any conditions that would make this law beneficial? What do young students actually get out of PE that would be so much better for them then persuing their educational interests?

[sunissed14127]

Something like that is happening at my school right now in Arkansas.... They are making 30 minutes of P.E mandatory for all grades next year, everyday. In the middle of this school year, the school took us out of band every Friday & made us go to P.E. But somehow, my band director got us out of it. Even though that made me happy, I found out that next year they are considering making the school day longer! I really don't think that's fair to us. I think marching is a physical activity..... and to me, Arts actvites are more important. I think kids should have a choice of if they want to take P.E instead of the legislature forcing us to. I understand the younger kids having to do it, because I remember we had P.E everyday anyways. But as we get older, I think we should have a choice.