Have you ever been in a physical education class and felt like you could be making better use of your time? We certainly have. People should generally get 30 minutes to an hour of exercise every day, whether it be through sports or other types of physical activity, like yoga, walking, or going to the gym. If they meet that criteria, then students should have the ability to opt out of physical education classes.

People who participate in sports or get a healthy amount of physical activity daily will have already learned the skills that are taught in P.E. There is no need for an active person to sit in an 82-minute class every other day being taught habits that they already practice. Their time would be better spent learning something new.

Additionally, since P.E. classes at Jackson-Reed are so large, there is a limited amount of physical space. Classes are often forced to change locations, which means that students miss out on activities.

Furthermore, our high student-teacher ratio makes P.E. less beneficial for Jackson-Reed students. With a population of more than 2,000, kids are not getting attention in class. As a result, P.E. becomes 82 minutes of wasted time. Again, students should be able to pick other electives that are more valuable to their education. 

In summary, P.E. should be optional because it provides no benefits to already active people. Filtering out these people will lead to smaller P.E. classes, which creates a more reasonable student-teacher ratio. This will allow students who are not often active to get the attention and knowledge they need to live a healthy lifestyle. •