Nydia Ramos, Copy Editor
Millions of students around the world walk into their school gymnasiums with clammy hands, bodies full of hormonal imbalances and anxiety, fretting over what others will think of them when they can’t perform the day’s sport or physical task as well as they would like to or as well as everyone else can. They are dreading the FitnessGram Pacer Test™ or whatever other ridiculous test that schools have conjured up for students.
The nerds, the geeks, the loners and every person who seems to be different from what society considers normal are left behind in gym class. Always picked last on a team, always forced into groups of people that they don’t know, forever being snickered at by those who never had a problem fitting in. Kids that aren’t normally physically active are ashamed of their red faces and ragged breathing while others are running laps around them.
I once was told by my gym teacher that my classmates and I couldn’t pick our own groups purely because he claimed that “girls will group with each other” and there will be an unfair advantage if the boys go up against us because they were better at the sport. Being told I couldn’t be in a group with my friends because us girls couldn’t handle an “over-dominating” team of boys is beyond frustrating and demeaning. This type of discrimination is practiced all around the world in all gym classes, leaving girls to feel as if they’re inferior to their male peers just because of their gender.
There can also be a considerable amount of discrimination against girls, comparing their skill sets, in terms of athletics etcetera, to boys. While on one hand, yes, you can argue that males quite literally tend to be stronger and more “fit” from a biological standpoint. But, that doesn’t mean that girls don’t know their way around a soccer field or how to handle a football. I speak from firsthand experience of sexism in my own P.E. classes.
I’m not saying that gym class should just be abolished altogether, but I do think the system is deeply flawed. While it is very important for people to get the exercise they need, even if they don’t want it, the way students are graded based on their physical abilities is ridiculous. If you can’t do enough sit ups or push ups in a minute, you’ll get a low score. In a school system that repeats over and over that impeccable grades are what will get you through life, it seems to be a bit redundant to give a student a bad grade for not being able to do push ups.
We should encourage students to want to be active, not shove them onto a waxed hardwood floor and tell them to run. Taking a more gentle approach to the grading system will make students dread the class less and in turn enjoy themselves more and even want to participate. With a few changes, we can work toward a future where gym classes are looked forward to by all.