Most student athletes look forward to their senior year, not only for graduation and senior lunch release, but also for P.E. exemptions.
Students at LHS are required to endure four years of gym class unless they are juniors or seniors in a varsity sport, are taking six classes, hold a "C" or better in their physical education class, have never failed a physical education class, and can pass the required fitness tests with flying colors.
The exempting athlete needs to achieve 70% or higher in one fitness test from the muscular strength category (the one-minute sit-up test), one from muscular endurance (the push-up test), and one from cardiovascular fitness (the pacer test, in which a student runs lengths of the gym with increasing speed).
"Instead of having an athlete reach the 70th percentile in all fitness tests, we believe one from each category is very reasonable," Physical Welfare Department Supervisor Patti Mascia said.
But what about an underclassman on varsity? Or a senior on junior varsity? Or a student who meets every other requirement but simply can’t run over 50 laps on the pacer? Shouldn’t they be able to exempt?
The IHSA (Illinois High School Association) has stated that the only students who should be allowed to omit gym for a study hall are those who do not have the time to finish all their school work, as they are in sports for hours after school every night. This organization also sets the standard for many of LHS’ exemption qualifications, such as age level, sport level, grades and how many classes a student has. Standards set by the IHSA cannot be changed by the administration of LHS.
LHS and the IHSA need to change their exemption policies to make them more fair and achievable to all athletes. Student athletes of all ages and sport levels should be given the chance to exempt from gym.
Some students may even see the current exemption policy as discrimination against some sports or athletes by saying that they do not work hard enough or are not good enough athletes to deserve a study hall. Typically, swimmers are not great at running and cannot pass the pacer test in the 70th percentile, but they might just not be fast enough to make the decreasing time requirements. If a student is on a very intense sport but doesn’t have very developed skills in the running department, should they be excluded from exemption?
Not all sports are geared towards skills reflected by the fitness tests. For example, in sports such as swimming, shot-put and discus, bowling, diving and water polo, extensive running is not required. Often times athletes consider these sports because they are not very good at running. For these athletes, the pacer is an unfair requirement because they are not used to that kind of workout.
The state of Illinois has determined that students need to get exercise during the school day, which is why gym is a requirement. However, athletes get hours of exercise at their sports practices once or even twice a day. For instance, athletes like swimmers might not be the best at running, but they may still have excellent cardiovascular fitness.
While a junior varsity or freshman sports practice might seem simple to a varsity athlete, that does not mean it is any less tiring to an athlete of a different level. Athletes join teams that are challenging to them specifically, even if it may not be to someone who is used to a harder workout. Underclassmen do the same daily workouts for the same amount of time as the upperclassmen on their teams, but they are not offered a study hall in place of a gym class.
"I think the exemption policy is unfair! If upperclassmen have the chance to get out of gym so should I. I have practice every day, too," sophomore Charlie Jamieson said.
Many people think that because freshmen and sophomores are underclassmen, their classes are easier than that of upperclassmen as well. However, this is not accurate because students take classes that are challenging to them depending on what level they are at academically. That being said, underclassmen are no less challenged than upperclassmen, and should be offered a study hall.
The IHSA and LHS need to rethink their exemption guidelines in order to take all sports and levels into account. A more favorable policy would be one that allows all students on a sport to have the chance to omit gym, opting for a study hall instead.
photo by Katy Marhenke