People today are becoming addicted to fast food without realizing the effects. Anywhere you go today, you’ll find McDonald’s fast food near you, which is harming American children more than anything else. A typical child today lives and grows up on fast food just because parents don’t have enough time to cook. On top of all this, computers have made it even worse, as all children do is eat junk food and spend their free time playing computer games. Furthermore, children are not able to develop their life skills and harm their health by eating junk food, filled with harmful calories. As a result, due to present circumstances, physical education classes should be required for all public school students in all grades.
The foremost benefit of physical education courses in public schools is that it promotes general health. A typical teenager today spends much more time in front of a PC or TV, on a regular basis, than doing physical exercise. On top of this, children don’t eat healthy nutritional food which ends up harming their body in many different ways, such as having a poor heart at a young age due to obesity, breathing problems etc. Keeping this in mind, researchers have found out that exercise has maximum benefit if done regularly. Furthermore, learning about the importance of physical fitness it not only helps students stay fit, but also helps them to remain healthy throughout their lifetime.
Besides promoting general health, physical education teaches children transferable life skills. As children start to exercise or play games, they start to socialize in society among other children. Furthermore, playing games, they actually become a part of a team and start to learn about teamwork, by developing their confidence and leadership qualities. Furthermore, children also learn about important aspects of life, such as not letting themselves down even if things don’t go their way. They also learn about the benefits of healthy competition.
The third reason why physical education should be required in schools is that children can be better trained effectively, efficiently, and faster under a trained professional. Even though children can get exercise at home, trained physical education teachers can teach more effectively than parents. Furthermore, physical education teachers can usually point a student toward the sport that is more appropriate, as they monitor a student's progress on a daily basis. Also schools generally have the appropriate facilities and equipment to aid in better results, rather then exercise done at home.
However despite of all the benefits of physical education in public schools, some parents claim that only academic subjects should be taught in school, as physical games might be a distraction for students. However, most parents don’t realize that they themselves don’t have enough time to oversee their child's physical exercise, nor do they have the available resources in order for their children to get enough exercise. Therefore, it becomes the school's duty to ensure that children are healthy in both mind and body.
In conclusion, one can see that as children are growing obese, physical education is becoming more of a necessity than an elective in public schools. Physical education has often been downplayed as a minor part of daily school life and not been considered necessary. However, if its benefits are taken into account and if schools adopt a twelve-year fitness plan, the positive results will foster a new awareness of not only physical fitness but also communication skills.
