Public Schools Can’t Be All Things to Everyone

Combest links to this letter about physical education in schools. This sentence sums it up:

We must give Missouri youth the opportunity to live healthy lives by providing them with more education on the importance of nutrition and the opportunity to be active in a quality PE program.

This is asking too much of public schools. They can’t be expected to instill all healthy habits in children; some of that must be the parents’ responsibility.

Schools should be free to schedule physical education as they choose. For schools with block scheduling that hold 90-minute class periods, complying with a half-hour mandate could wreck the entire schedule.

If parents are not happy with the amount of physical education provided in school, they can make up for it after school. It’s one subject that parents can easily supplement on their own. Unlike chemistry, for which you might need a lab, special equipment, textbooks, etc., physical education can take place with basic supplies like a jump rope from a dollar store.