PE class, short for “Physical Education”, is one of the worst subjects ever. Here are 5 reasons why PE class is dumb:

1. Students get grades based on worksheets

Have you ever had that one PE class where your boomer teacher that can’t even play sports just makes you do multiple worksheets for the entire class, and they just sit there and stare at their phone with a creepy smile on their face?

PE teachers often take class time and make kids do worksheets, which is dumb because worksheets can be done at home. Writing worksheets during PE class is pointless because it’s a waste of both money and time.

Students get their PE grades based on how well they do on the worksheets, but not how much they participate in class. This is a problem because it makes kids think that participation in class isn’t important, and all we have to do is do well on the worksheets. This gives kids a bad learning attitude which they may apply to other classes also.

2. Big school, little space

Most schools only have two areas for PE class: a gym and a field. This makes it extra hard to have proper PE classes because kids are crammed into a small gym trying to play dodgeball when there’s no space to dodge.

When there are multiple PE classes going on at once, kids from different classes and grade levels have to either divide one area into two or play with each other.

When the gym is divided into two, kids have to wait for half a class to play on the field for five minutes because they have to take turns. But when two classes have to play each other, after class, kids will yell at each other and accuse the other side of cheating.

3. Kids lose their confidence

There are many tests we take in PE class. For example, in the fitness test there’s running, sit-ups, reaching, and jumping. Some kids can pass all these tests very easily, but some kids have grandma flexibility and can’t pass the test.

This brings us to the problem. Mean kids take this as a chance to bully kids that can’t pass the test. This makes kids lose confidence going to PE class knowing that they can’t pass the test and that they will get bullied for it. This makes them lose their confidence in school.

4. “Pick a partner”

In PE class, teachers always tell you to pick a partner to do exercises together. And this brings us to two scenarios.

The first scenario is “The shy kid”. There’s always the one kid in your class who’s too shy to reach out for a partner, and no one reaches out to him either. And the teacher has to spend an additional 5 minutes figuring out the groups. In the long term, the kid will feel lonely and get really sad because he thinks no one likes him because no one reached out to be his partner.

The second scenario is “The athletic kid”. There’s always the one kid in your class that is extremely athletic and knows how to play every sport. When you’re on the “athletic team”, you get stressed out because you are expected to do well, and when you aren’t the athletic kid gets mad at you like you killed his dog because you made them lose. The kid that’s blamed for “doing bad” gets sad and actually thinks he’s bad at the game, which makes him avoid doing exercises in PE class.

5. Teachers are often sexist

Most PE teachers expect boy students to participate a lot while girls can just do whatever they want on the other side of the gym. This is sexist because boys are expected to do more than girls. In most cases, boys have to do the exercises properly while girls are just gossiping with a ball in their hand, sitting on the floor pretending that they are doing the exercise.

The worst part about this is that when there’s a girl that is very athletic in your class, the teacher still expects you to do better than the athletic girl.

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The grading system, the lack of space, kids losing their confidence, and teachers being sexist are all reasons why PE class is just another way for the school to scam some extra money from our parents.