I am not anti-physical education, that needs to be cleared up from the start. The point I am bringing forward doesn’t have anything to do with the P.E. classes themselves or the teachers. The issue I have is with what happens when we’re not in gym class. There is a new rule that has risen in the physical education department: if you miss a day of P.E. class with an excused absence,  it’s a requirement that you need to make up that class in the cardio-lab on your own time.

I get that the school would want us to stay fit and participate in gym class.  However, how will making up one P.E. class in the cardio-lab make a difference?  This rule doesn’t even make sense to me. The administration wants us to take P.E. as seriously as a “regular class,” I will compare it to my other “regular classes.” If I miss a day of English or history class, I don’t have to stay after school to make up that 42 minute class period (excluding if you miss a test or a quiz). So why should it be any different for a P.E. class? The fact that we get daily points in gym is fine, but to give someone a zero if they have an excused absence and make them make it up is uncalled for.

The other issue I have with the rule is that it only applies to students who have an excused absence. If you have an unexcused absence, well that’s a whole other story. You don’t even get to make up the points that you lost for that day. What this is telling me is that the kids who are actually slacking in gym class and don’t go to gym with no excuse whatsoever don’t have to go after school to the cardio-lab to make up gym time. So why is it that the students with a legitimate excuse not to be there have to go make up the points?

This would be my suggestion: the students who have unexcused absences in gym should be given an ultimatum: either make up the gym class period in the cardio-lab or receive a detention. If you are not in P.E. class with an excused absence, then you should be cleared from that day of P.E and the points for the day should be excused. I know I don’t make the rules around here, but take it from someone who misses school a lot from being sick and traveling with debate, making up gym is definitely not something that should be a worry for me when I get back to school.

When I’m missing a day of school due to an excused absence, whatever the circumstance may be, I don’t want to spend my time catching up on work and then worry about making up a 30 minute gym period after school. It is unclear who this benefits. It definitely doesn’t benefit the student and it seems counterproductive for the teacher as well. What we should be graded on in gym class is what we do when we are in class, not by what we have to do outside of it.