Payson Roundup

Editor:

My name is Michael McWilliams. I am in the eighth-grade at Rim Country Middle School. Before spring break I went to the high school to register for my next four years. I was surprised to find out that physical education was not offered to boys.

PE has been replaced with weight training. Weight training seems to be a good idea, but it doesn’t have a lot of physical activity. My grandma told me that PE has been a required class ever since the Presidential Fitness Test was implemented under President Kennedy.

I actually earned the Presidential Fitness patch at Frontier Elementary School. I was told that the reason PE was cut from the program was because the high school had to cut teachers. It is my opinion that physical education is one of the most important classes. This is happening at a time when the First Lady, Michele Obama, is making a huge effort to educate people about childhood obesity.

I would like to see PE reinstated into the curriculum at the high school. This Friday I read a report in the Payson Roundup that stated that Gila County ranked as the least healthy in the state. This is not a time to drop physical education from the high school.

Michael McWilliams