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?

[*Statues/Shadows*]

Well, it wouldn't affect me, regardless, but everyone was freaking out over it because it very well could happen. my band director spoke to various other band directors and principals from around the state recently, and they'd already looked at what they'd have to do to get around it, and that's where the 2 days a week thing came in, as a best case senario.

The point is, although the idea of physical activity itself is not bad, why would it be so worthwhile as to destroy things that might actually be of interest to people? School's generally loathesome enough already; three's no need to make it worse. While it should not of course have to cater to every student interest, to to decide that one things is significantly more important than others is not fair, because it's completely biased torwards he althletic kids. Other people need to develop their interests too, and not all of us have any talent at all for running around with balls. Making kids resent PE will not make them decide that they want to spend their lives excersizing daily just because it's healthy, and it won't do much good either, if the kids just go home every night and eat fast food. Other skills will actually stick with you, and help you grow intellectually. Being able to run in circles, not so much.

Besides which, to balance that out, they need to give high schoolers some f**king naptime. I didn't need it when I was little, but it';d improve both my mental and physical health now. if they're really that concerned for kids' physiques, they should try keeping that in mind too. if study hall is a waste of time in a place of learning, then extra PE definitely is.

And Sunkissed, I consider marching a very physical activity too (hey, I lose 5 pounds every band camp), but we don't actually march during school hours, though I still think it should count as a PE credit.