Here at Placer High School we are required to do two years of P.E. and part of that requirement is running the mile. However this year only freshman students have to run the mile more than once a week.
In America today some of the most common problems are heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, and heart failure, and even more common recently—teen obesity. Americans are some of the unhealthiest people in the world. 33% of American adults are obese and about 22% of teens are obese, so exercise should be considered an essential thing.
Running the mile could be considered a good thing or a bad thing by students. Some people don’t enjoy it but it is good for teens to exercise and get their hearts pumping.
“It’s a good thing to run the mile because of the amount of obese kids in America; we need to exercise” said sophomore Ashlee McGuiness.
It may seem unfair, but some freshmen actually like to run the mile.
Freshman Ryan Ewing said, “I like to run the mile because I feel free.”
Some adults may think that teens are going to be lazy regardless, but not running could increase the amount of people who actually enjoy P.E.
Some students say they would not ditch P.E. as much if they did not have to run the mile. Chances are, not running the mile as often could reduce the amount of cuts.
Some kids may not like running the mile at the time but could appreciate it later.
Junior Matt Bigley stated, “I kind of like running because it gets me in shape.”
There are a few reasons why students don’t like running. P.E teacher Ron Hyatt said, “Kids have it in their mind that it is a bad thing.”
There is also the factor of being timed while you’re running that students don’t like. Even if you run the full mile and make it under the time you will not get full credit.
“I don’t like running the mile because they don’t give you enough time,” said Placer sophomore Karlee Sprowl. When there is hot weather of course it is hard for some people to run.
But running the mile is not the only exercise you can get. Any exercise that gets your heart rate raised is good exercise. In physical education you could do other activities like a soccer game, but it’s hard to get everyone to participate.
If everyone could participate students may not have to run so much but could still get the exercise they need to stay healthy. Walking and jogging give you the same cardio vascular exercise that you get in running, but some people could really enjoy them more.
Students disagree on whether it is a good or bad thing to run the mile, but removing it as a requirement for sophomores could reduce the amount of ditching and increase the amount of students who like P.E. Even though running is good exercise, not running as much will give P.E teachers a chance to explore more ways to get healthy.