There is an ongoing debate on what would best aid a child development, whether it is physical activities or academic-related activities. This debate then leads to another debate of if Physical Education should be in school curriculum for all school-age children or not. There are two parts of this belief, first is if Physical Education should be in the curriculum, and second if it should be in for all school-age children, meaning from kindergarten to Year 12. Personally, I think in order for a child to holistically develop, both active and academic activities is required, therefore, Physical Education classes are as essential as academic classes and should be kept in the curriculum.
It is pivotal for a child development to have Physical Education classes as part of the curriculum as it helps them stay active as well as creating a habit of staying active. This helps them stay healthy and reduce their chance of having obesity and diabetes at a young age. Moreover, Physical Education classes are a perfect addition to the curriculum as it gives the brain time off from sitting down and studying. This helps the brain to relax and recharge its energy, which then boost the students’ productivity in academic classes. In addition, this would also help less academic-minded students to find career or future pathways that are not directly link to the academia.
On the other hand, for some, Physical Education classes are not as essential enough to be in the curriculum for all school-age children. Again, there is two parts to this belief, one of Physical Education classes being in the curriculum and the other of should it be in the curriculum for all school-age children. For some, they believe that it should be up to the children to decide how much they want to exercise and not educational bodies. For a few others, they might still support having Physical Education classes in the curriculum, what they might not in agreement is at which stages it should be excluded. At a certain age, the child should be able to have a basic understanding of their future pathways; therefore, at that stage, they should be given the choice of whether they want to engage in sport and physical activities in school or not.
To sum up, both physical activities and academic subjects are vital for a child development. Yet, at the end of the day, the child should be free to choose to engage in which activities that will best aid their future pathways and school should try to meet their needs, whether it means that letting the child choose to have or not to have Physical Education in their class selection.