South Haven News

By Trista Metzinger

Every student remembers dodgeball, balls flying back and forth as your teammates sit to the side ready to get back in. It was all like a massive war, and your side was determined to win. But then there are the kids in the back who sit and talk. Maybe that was you. Either way, this brings up the question – is making students who will not try in any physical activity a good idea? 

Kansas requires certain things from each age group that the teacher should teach. You can find this on the KSDE website. These were decided by a committee of Kansas physical education teachers in 2005. These skills are supposed to help a student’s confidence and competence. Some of these skills may be, at younger ages, just being aware of your space, while older students may need to be more active in endurance tests and such.

However, some of these are also basic life skills. In the square marked 1.12.9 in the Kansas Curricular Student Copentencies, it shows that high school students should have basic swimming skills, which is obviously very important if you somehow end up in water and someone is drowning. Not only is it based on athletic capabilities, but also mental ablilites such as understanding how being active can impact your school and life, how technology can be used healthily, and anticipating one’s emotions before engaging in physical activities. One even involves looking into the cultural and historical aspects of sports, games, and dancing.

I think this is a great curriculum to have teachers follow. PE isn’t just about basketball and dodgeball, but also how enduring and supporting and moderating. With the right resources, this should be possible! But does every school have these resources? 

Unfortunately, smaller schools may not have the resources to do these things. Swimming isn’t possible without a pool, and repeatedly telling students to limit screen time isn’t just magically going to work. Physical activities may only be participated in as a way to get anger out, which can be both good and bad, but then what do you do with the students sitting in the back? Participation grades may work, but then are you following the curriculum if the student isn’t trying?

As said many times, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. You could make them swim, take away phones, but in the end, you can only do it for that hour. Depending on if they care or not, they may as well forget. That is something both small and big schools must deal with. So what is the solution to this problem?

To put it simply, there is only one solution to this problem: split classes. It may feel degrading, but it will overall make students comfortable to play with people at their level. It’s like the Olympics: boys have an advantage over girls, hence why they are separate and there was reasonable backlash over putting a transgender athlete in a female sport. Not only would split groups help, but also not just doing a participation grade, but an improvement grade. If a student jumps higher in a latitude test, they should get a reward to continue work.

As for the issue of resources, that really depends on the school. There is only so much you can do, but I would suggest smaller schools at least informing students on proper swimming technique or technology use with a reward if screen time lessens or they can remember certain key things. However there is still one issue.

Everything depends on the student. If they choose to not care, they won’t remember anything. Unfortunately, you can’t force that. The only thing you can do is maintain a positive environment. 

So that brings us to the solution of splitting classes, giving rewards, and encouraging work. Students can try or participate. But don’t force.