Physical education classes at Smithtown High School West have always been a place where kids can find their exercise for the day without going to harsh practices and tedious workouts for school sports and activities.
The school board has come up with many fun ways to endure a workout with classes like Project Adventure and Movement and Explore. These fun ways to spend 40 minutes of exercising have been fading away quickly.
When the kids of Smithtown West went into their gym classes on the first day of school they were told about their classes and handed a course description syllabus. That sheet of paper has changed dramatically over the years.
This year the kids that partake in all the different types of physical education classes have a few new rules. The kids have to hand in a certain number of writing assignments, take written tests after each different unit and take fitness tests that grade you on your physical ability to do certain activities.
All the different students feel differently about the new changing curriculum. Some kids like Haley Dougherty feel that “this change is for the better and will help our study skills and Grade Point Average”, but other kids like Stephen Ellsworth feel that if they “do badly it is an unnecessary grade that could hurt them when it comes time to choosing a college.”
Rebecca Martinbianco a 10th grader here at Smithtown High School West, takes the gym class Movement and Explore, felt that “the new gym class tests could help improve our grades and may make us work harder but could help us out in the end.” Most kids did not agree with Rebecca and had a very different outlook on things.
Amanda McGuire also of the 10th grade and in the same type of gym class as Rebecca Martinbianco says, “I feel that gym classes should focus on athletics and not knowledge.”
Lauren Traina a student in the 10th grade, who participates in the gym class Lifetime Sports, feels that “gym classes should be class to get away from all the stress of you other classes. You shouldn’t have to worry about studying and forgetting homework in gym.”
Most of the kids who attend Smithtown High School West think that gym should be a time where talented kids who play sports can show off their skills in front of their classmates and not have to worry about getting a good grade on a test or a homework assignment. There are a few kids that feel that gym assignments are good for the students and should be carried out throughout the school years to come.
Gym teacher, Ms. Eagan says she “agrees with the gym curriculum, and feels that it is important what were doing and why were doing it.” Ms. Eagan feels that they are “enforcing the rules more and more as the school years come and go.”
As we get deeper into the school year kids may change their minds about the new gym class programs and will start to find the bright side of this new change that came with a new school year, but as of now the majority of the students at Smithtown High School West feel negatively about this new change.
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