Track,football,soccer,baseball,basketball, and other sports attract dedicated student athletes who often pratice every day after school and then participate in weekend games.Should these students be forced to give up an elective class period to take a required physical education class? In order to meet the state's physical education course requirements,that is exactly what Whitman high school ask them to do. I believe that this policy that this policy doesn't make any sense. Instead the Montgomery County plublic high schools should exempt student athletes from taking P.E. classes.First of all, partiipating in extracurricular sport meets the objectives of the state's course requirements.Those objectives are to promote fitness and improve athletic skill,according to the Whitman course catalog. Involment in either a varsity or a club sport for one season already makes a stident fit and athletic skilled.A second reason to change the policy is that the physical education requirements forces students to give up an elective class period. High school students can generally choose only eight elective courses from dozens of class offerings. by eliminating the P.E. requirement for student athlete, the county would give students more freedom in selecting their courses.Another reason to exempt student athlete is that regular P.E. classes would not be so crowded. A large portion of the student body participates in either varsity or club sports. With smaller classes, teachers could provide more supervision during class periods and be more responsive to student feedback. Students in those classes would have a grater chance to improve their athletic skills and confidence.Finally, exposing students to different sports is one goal of the P.E. requirement,but this objective alone is not important enough to require students to take P.E. class. Students seldom take P.E.class as seriously as they would an extracurricular sport, so students do not always appreciate sports they sample in P.E. class. Also, students have elementary and middle school P.E. classes to try a variety of sports. most students have already chosen a favorite sport on which to concentrate by the time they reach high school, so it is not worthwhile to make students spend class time experimenting with different sports.Varsity and club sports require great deal of time and effort from athletes. The county should recognize that team sports encourage physical activity more effectively than P.E. class and spark more enthusiasm from students. It is more important for student athletes to become well-rounded academically by taking electives than to tak P.E. class , since thay already understand the value of fitness.
