Final Argumentative essay draft

A physical education class is a class that uses physical activities to keep you healthy, in shape, and to help you learn about your body. In the state of Georgia high school students are required to take physical education and health class once during grades nine through twelve. In college, most majors require students to take one physical education class as part of the degree requirements for a four year degree. In the journal The Physical Educator it states that "colleges and universities offer activity courses in a variety of ways. While some offer them simply as electives, others require them as a part of physical education or other human performance major. Yet others require them as a part of a gradation requirement, often tied into a wellness course" (      ). This means that there are plenty of options for you to take each year. I believe that students should be required to take a physical education class not just once, but each year of high school and college. This will increase ones fitness, health, and knowledge about their body and it will also help them make good healthy decisions as they become an adult. The same journal reads that "this supports the benefits of a physically active lifestyle. This is especially important since physical activity in young adulthood can affect health- promotion efforts throughout life" (    ). Physical activity is not just important one day or another, but it is in fact important every single day of your life.

Getting exercise and being fit is very important to ones health. Being active should be embedded into everyone's daily, or weekly activities. A study done by BMC public help states that "behavior modification such as diet and physical activity are embedded in social, political, and economic realities" (    ). This meaning that we have all the things we need, but we must make it a requirement in our lives. Requiring additional classes in high school and college is the perfect way to do it. In this generation many people are hooked to video games and cell phones. A different study from BMC public health determines that "lower numbers of physical activity is being observed, with an overall decline during adolescent years" It also states that "young people's time spent on sedentary activities is increasing and such activities may dominate their lives" (    ).  A students screen time is increasing daily and becoming a bigger issue in our world today. Another study found out that "this larger body of work suggests that screen time might be linked to lower physical health and executive functioning in children and adolescents" (    ). Students are hooked to their video games and phones so much that it is affecting their health daily. Being in a physical education class will take students mind off their phones and decrease their screen time. Students are focused on social media and playing video games, and they are not focused on their health and physical well being like they should be. Additional classes in high school and college will give students the opportunity for at least an hour or so to not be distracted from video games and cell phones and get in some exercise. This will help build physical skills that will hopefully carry over to adulthood. The journal The Physical Educator supports this by saying, "if a student has a positive experience in a physical education class and develops a positive attitude about it, they are more likely to engage in physical activity outside of school" (   ). Daily Physical activity can also "help college students to control stress and can increase self esteem"(  ). Being active not only helps you body, but it also helps you head.

Another part of physical education is health. This course is not focused on doing exercises, but more on how to do them and how to live a healthy lifestyle. Health classes are offered in both high school and college. Students need this type of class to learn about drug and alcohol abuse, diabetes, obesity, etc.The Physical Educator states that, "one of the major combatants of obesity is physical activity, which should be encouraged among all, based largely on the assumption that the behavior will become part of the persons life and carry into adulthood" (   ). Requiring these courses will help begin the daily routine into students lives. Students are faced with many of these obstacles as they advance throughout their life, and they need to be informed about what to do and how to get the help that they need. I believe that obesity is one of the main problem and struggles in our world today. Research shows that "globally, 39% of people over 18 were obese in 2014" (  ), "from ages 20-39 60.3% of people in the United States are classified as overweight" (   ). It has been proven that, "an increase in sedentary activities and low physical activity patterns are the main risk factors for obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease" (  ). Obesity is a very large spread risk in our world today, and more physical activity can help reduce that risk. "The rate of weight gain during the young adult hood period is the fastest across adulthood", we need to help young adults and students not become obese and have the healthy lifestyle that they need (  ).  One important thing that you learn in health is how to count calories. This is important with exercising so you know how many calories you burn, and how many you take in. This is only one important thing that is taught, but there is many more. Again, this concept of having a health class will hopefully help you live a better lifestyle as you get older. This will help you have a daily and weekly routine that you will be able to try to keep up even after school.

Although, there are some requirements for physical education in high school and college, I do not think that they are enough. In high school you are only required to take health one half of a semester, and physical education the other half of the semester. This is only nine weeks of each. In college most majors require you to take some type of physical education class one time. I believe that this is not enough for students to really understand how important their health is, and how much exercising can impact their life, in the present and future. Many young adults and adults are diagnosed with blood pressure problems each year, "exercise increases blood flow, for one, which stimulates the release of a chemical that relaxes artery walls and lowers blood pressure" (  ). This is just one thing that physical activity can help throughout your body, but it can help many more. The journal entry Why Exercise Works Magic states that "few realize that being physically active is the single most important thing that most of us can do to improve or maintain our health", and that "the benefits of exercise really start to accumulate once physical activity becomes a routine habit" (   ). If students are required to take a physical education class each year of high school and college, a student would end up with eight years of physical activities that will be embedded into their daily routine. With this being done they will be more likely to continue the exercise into their days and life after college.

Many people might say that taking these classes can be a waste of credits, hours, and time, but I believe that they are important for your overall health and wellbeing and will help you make better choices as an adult. If students remain enrolled in physical education and health courses in high school and college they will also gain knowledge of current health hazards, "young adults are less likely to eat breakfast, exercise, and to get regular physical checkups" (  ). They can receive up to date information on health topics or receive information on a personal experience that they may be going through.

In conclusion, physical education classes should be required not just once, but every year of high school and college, these classes are not meant to be hard, but to benefit you, "exercise is good for you" (  ).  This will increase ones health and knowledge that they have about their body. It will teach them healthy eating habits and many tools that they will need to know to have a healthy lifestyle. It will also decrease students screen time and give them time to be away from distractions such as their phones and video games. Exercise is very important, "it can counteract he health deterrents of our profession- stress, long hour, time spent sitting, and weight gain" (  ). Overall, these students are the future of America, and we need do all we can by starting a pattern of healthy living from high school to college so that it can be embedded with them as they reach adulthood.

Comments

  1. I agree with you as I also think students need to implement more exercise into their daily routines, and making students take the classes in order to graduate from high school/ college is a good way to give them the mindset they need to accomplish their fitness goals now and later on in life. I think your essay was well formatted and you give good examples behind your reasons for these changes.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment