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Mackenzie Ross

Mrs. Robinson

AP Language and Composition

24 April 2018

Give Student a Break

About 30 percent of elementary schools and about 16 percent of middle schools do not

require physical education in America (Lee). In comparison to other countries, the United States

lacks an emphasis on physical education in school. Physical education is known as an academic

class in China and is enforced strictly with examinations, and administrative supervision to see

the improvement of the students’ fitness (Rattigan). Here in America, it is done a little differently

than in other countries. Physical education in America is known as an elective in most states and

is only required but a couple days out of the week. ​American Schools should increase physical

education requirements for younger children because an increase in health and physical

education could benefit children both physically and mentally.

Physical education is not emphasized enough in the schools of the United States today.

With this happening in this country, there is some recent history of bad outcomes. One of the bad

outcomes that have come out of this is death. According to Sherman, “Physical inactivity and

unhealthy diets are the cause of 300,000 American deaths each year.” Reasons why deaths are a

cause of physical inactivity is because some of the people in the United States aren’t allowing

enough blood to flow through their brain, and they are just being allowed to sit around and do

nothing but building up excess weight that can be reduced by the participation of physical
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activity and another thing that build up in a student is stress which can be reduced if a student at

least gets some time out of learning throughout the school day. It may have gone unnoticed, but

physical education is a very important factor in people’s daily lives. Another outcome of

physical inactivity is known as child obesity. As looking over the information Mr.Stephens, a

personal trainer, gave me in an interview when a question was asked about if physical education

would affect child obesity, Mr.Stephens responded with a yes that physical education in schools

would decrease child obesity and not only would physical education help but also the food

choices they put in schools (Stephens). According to the American Heart Association, “Today,

about one in three American kids and teens is either overweight or obese” (AHA). This factor

has become so important to the United States that it is now top on the charts for the most

concerned health condition, topping the one that is known the most which is drug abuse and

smoking.

There are multiple diseases that can be lowered by just participating in physical activity

at a young age (Lee). The main diseases that can be lowered by physical education are ADHD,

Cancer, and Diabetes. ADHD stands for the Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD

disorder is when a child cannot focus and has an abundance of energy. How physical education

has been beneficial to this is that it improves the child’s attention and mood by allowing them to

let some of their energy out that they could not do by sitting in a classroom. After the children

with ADHD increase the participation in physical activity; it should allow them to be able to go

back to class and be more involved in the lesson. Cancer is a disease that can be lessened. The

types of cancer that can be lowered by physical education are mainly breast cancer and colon

cancer. Physical education reduces this by lowering levels of insulin and estrogen, which is a
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main factor of cancer. Another way it will help colon cancer is by allowing the food to travel

through the digestive system faster to reduce carcinogens (NDI).​ ​Another common illness in the

United States is diabetes. Diabetes has four different types; they are known as-pre diabetes, type

1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and type 3 diabetes. Physical education affects prediabetes and type 2

diabetes. How these are prevented is by lowering four main things: blood glucose, HDL

cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood pressure (ADA). Even though these are not all of the

diseases that can be treated, they are the ones that have the biggest impact on children's lives and,

to some extent, they can reduce them with physical education.

There are many other benefits being introduced to physical education at an early age. The

main thing is that if the children start attending physical education classes while they are young;

the more likely it is for them to continue the habit when they are adults (Lee). Physical education

has been known to reduce things such as depression and anxiety and improve things such as

healthy bone and muscle development (Lee). If a child suffers from depression and anxiety, it is

very stressful for not only the student but also for the parents. What these parents have to do is

introduce a little bit of physical activity to lower the levels of these two groups. When a student

has healthy bones and muscles, they lower the risk of breaking bones which will benefit them

when they get older. A saying that an athletic trainer, Mr. Stephens said was, “anytime the heart

can get the blood flowing it will benefit them,” this is another reason in why we need physical

education. While these are not all the benefits, these are some good ones that can help a child

now as well ad in the future..

The amount of time does not matter if a student is still getting some type of physical

activity. Studies show where a teacher just gives her student four minute intervals of physical
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activity, and when they are done, the teacher already as less off-task students than she did before

(Queens University). Another thing that a physical education teacher could do is split the

exercises being done in the class period into intervals rather than doing it all that once so that

way the students will be more involved, and the more participation means the more benefits that

they will receive.

Parents think that students need to focus more on their education rather than their

physical appearance and health. The reason why parents might think this is because there are

several other way to being physically active rather than doing it during the school day, such as

going to your local gym. The thing that may come to mind about all of this is that not all students

have time after school, and many of the gyms, such as the YMCA, do not allow younger kids to

participate in a workout room. What the parents do not understand is while their children attend

physical education, they are improving their knowledge, allowing for their attention span to

increase which results in higher test scores and the increase of the overall grade in the class

(Active Network). As Jack Shonkoff says, “There is considerable research showing that physical

exercise improves the brain development from learning”(Shonkoff). What Shonkoff is trying to

get across is that there are other ways to improve what is being taught or what students know

rather than always sitting in a classroom and learning, which is cramming the student brain

throwing them off task and not being able to concentrate. A little break from writing, sitting, or

dozing off isn’t going to hurt anyone.

There are too many benefits of physical education where parents should want their

children more involved and the United States should enforce it more for our country. The time

span of these should increase not decrease and the involvement of the children in physical
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education should increase. Schools today have shortened the students time in physical education,

maybe because they think they lose too much education during that time. The thing is that it is

better to have multiple benefits rather than a little break from schooling which will later on

benefit the kids in classes.

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Works Cited

Janssen, Ian , and Allana G. LeBlanc. “Systematic review of the health benefits of physical

activity and fitness in school-Aged children and youth.” ​International Journal of

Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity,​ 11 May 2010,

ijbnpa.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1479-5868-7-40.

Lee, Sarah M. ​Physical Education and Physical Activity: Results from the school health policies

and programs study 2006​. Blackwell Publishing , 28 Sept. 2007,

onlinelibrary.wiley.com/wol1/doi/10.1111/j.1746-1561.2007.00132.x/full.

Mckenzie, Thomas L. ​Evaluation of a Two-Year Middle-School Physical Education

Intervention:

M-SPAN​. sparkpe.org/resultsMcKenzie.pdf.

Mercola, Dr. ​Exercise Benefits Children's Brain Function.​ 2012,

Mercola.com.fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archieve/2012/01/20/physically-act

ive-children-perform-better-academically.aspx.

Network, Active . “Benefits of P.E. in School.” ​A Movement for a fit and healthy America​,

​www.phitamerica.org/page1139.aspx​.

Overweight in Children.​ American Heart Association, 5 July 2016,

www.heart.org/HEARTORG/HealthyLiving/HealthyKids/ChildhoodObesity/Overweight

-in-Chil​dren_UCM_304054_Article.jsp#.WqXdGWinHrc
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Physical Activity and Cancer.​ National Cancer Institute, 27 Jan. 2017,

www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/causes-prevention/risk/obesity/physical-activity-fact-sheet

#q3

Rattigan , Peter. ​INTERNATIONAL APPROACHES TO PHYSICAL EDUCATION: A

COMPARISON.​ www.pelinks4u.org/articles/rattigan0210.htm.

Sherman, Clay P. ​Elementary School Classroom Teacher Delivered Physical Education: Costs,

Benefits and Barriers ​. 2010,

search.proquest.com/openview/d2a98019f6b2266ad464377bd1020fa1/1?pq-origsite=gsc

holar&cbl=35035.

Simonsmorton, B.G. ​Observed Levels of Elementary and Middle School Children's Physical

Activity During Physical Education Classes .​ July 1994,

www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/s0091743584710590

Stephens , Tremayne. Interview. By Mackenzie C. Ross. 26 Feb. 2018.

Queen's University. ​Fun and Games make for better learners​. Science Daily, 31 Oct. 2014,

www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141031150008.htm.

What can physical activity do for me?​ American Diabetes Association, 21 Mar. 2017,

www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/lower-your-risk/activity.html​.

What can physical activity do for me?​ American Diabetes Association, 21 Mar. 2017,

www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/lower-your-risk/activity.html​.
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