Though the significance of sustaining a healthy lifestyle cannot be undermined, it is not a college’s responsibility to mandate education around it.
Throughout one’s education – elementary, middle and high school – educators provide the knowledge and tools necessary to function properly within society, including those relating to health and fitness.
After 12 years of school, young adults should already have the framework set in their minds about how to eat well and stay active. Any further lessons on health would take time and attention away from a student’s higher education.
More than one-third (36.5 percent) of adults in the United States are obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Evidently, obesity has become an inevitable problem in today’s America – an epidemic that appears impossible to conquer. Judging by the large portion of people who suffer from obesity today, we should take steps to diminish the effects, right?
Efforts to eradicate the problem are witnessable through visits to a doctor, advertisements that urge for the payment of gym memberships and mandatory assignments of physical education classes in elementary, middle and high school.
Indeed, we want children to understand the significance of being active. We stress the long term health and success of the posterity to assist in the creation of capable leaders of society.
Ample time is provided for schools to implant the importance of daily physical activity. With 12 years of mandatory schooling comes 12 years of opportunity to make students aware of the consequences of an unhealthy lifestyle.
“Mandatory” is the word everyone should be aware of. A college education is a voluntary path one takes to specialize in a particular field and build a potential career.
The only classes that should ever be considered a general education requirement are the ones that are crucial to our individual success in the future.
As college students, we are here to begin our careers. Students are here to take the classes necessary to become the lawyers, doctors, engineers and leaders they want to become – all of which do not depend on exercise.
The issue has been stressed long enough for students at the college level to logically understand that exercise is something we must continue to indulge in to maintain healthy lifestyles.
Preliminary education has increased the awareness of obesity. Therefore, physical education in community college should not be a requirement.