Time to Include P.E. In the Gaokao?

In late October, the Ministries of Education and General Administration of Sport of China jointly issued a document, asserting the importance of physical education (P.E.) in middle schools, and proposing the inclusion of P.E. in the Gaokao, or Chinas college entrance examination.

It is a fact that health conditions among Chinese youth have been declining in recent years, ranging from poor vision to obesity. In 2011, only 10 percent of Beijings senior middle school students met the P.E. qualification level for overall health. This is an alarmingly low rate for the young people.

How to reverse this situation? The authorities standing point is to urge senior middle school students to undergo physical exercise by making P.E. a Gaokao subject.

During the annual “two sessions”—National Peoples Congress and Chinese Peoples Political Consultative Conference, this March, there were already proposals that P.E. should be treated equally with Chinese language, English, mathematics and other Gaokao subjects. This time, the proposal is more specific.

While some people support the idea as an effective method to strengthen studentshealth and well-being, others argue that a P.E. entrance exam would merely add to studentsheavy schoolwork burden.

Conducive to better health

Wu Guoping (www.hangzhou.com.cn): Its a great idea to internalize P.E. into the Gaokao. It will urge some schools that do not care so much about students overall development, particularly their health situation, to pay more attention to their sports activities. Today, schools tend to overemphasize the importance of academic work, and even ignore students health conditions. Without good health, how can students perform well in academic work?

In the middle school I work for, its no problem if P.E. is made a Gaokao subject. Every year, freshmen graduating from our school perform well in physical tests done by the provincial education system. We require that students have at least one hour per day for physical exercises. P.E. classes and morning exercises are part of our routine. Apart from students sports meetings, teaching staffs sports meetings are also more often held for teachers and the school staff. As a result, the whole school is warming up to a more active lifestyle.

Liu Jin (Nanfang Daily): If P.E. is made a Gaokao subject, it will help to improve students physical condition very quickly. We have already had such examples. After P.E. is internalized into examinations for senior middle schools, health of junior middle school students improves very quickly. However, we know that to make P.E. a Gaokao item is a difficult decision. Still under the current education system, anything related to Gaokao is very much stressed, so once P.E. is directly linked to the test, schools will surely pay much more attention to it, and students themselves will also like to spend more time doing sports.

Liu Genping (Nanfang Daily): Some people think that to make P.E. a Gaokao subject is too interest-driven. However, we have to admit that after so many years of examination-oriented education, not only schools, but students are also becoming profit- and interest-driven. Students tend to spend more time on subjects that will be tested in the Gaokao and less time on subjects that will not. Thus, to make P.E. a Gaokao subject will not help to fundamentally improve students physical condition in the long run. What students need is more time to do sports and build the habit of taking more physical exercises in daily life. If students are given more opportunities to get close to nature and to do sports outdoors, their academic performance will also naturally improve.

Education authorities hope to use examination as a leverage, to adjust the present situation and to direct peoples attention toward P.E. Although it is not the perfect choice, at least it can remind some schools to pay more attention to P.E. and to studentsphysical condition.

No tangible help

Pu Jiangchao (www.voc.com.cn): The health of young students is deteriorating, and its undoubtedly very important to encourage them to exercise more to improve their physique. I agree that P.E should make up a bigger proportion on students curriculum schedule, but it does not mean that P.E. should be listed among subjects to be tested in the Gaokao. Although comprehensive and overall development of a student is one of the goals of the education, students right to receive higher education cant be discounted just because of their relatively poor physical condition.

Some students enjoy good health, but they may not be able to perform well in the high jump or running. Some students may have poor health since birth. Its not their fault, and its unfair to strip them of the rights to go to college for the sake of health or low scores in a P.E. subject.

Actually, the P.E. standard in the Gaokao is lowering, which means students health is not thought to be as important as before. At the same time, the age threshold for students has also been relaxed. College education is a public resource, so whether one is an old citizen, or a person with poor health or even disabilities, he or she is entitled to have higher education.

Nowadays, when problems come up among students, people will often easily turn to the Gaokao for a solution. However, the Gaokao is just a kind of intelligence test, and is unable to help solve all studentsproblems. Actually, it is because too much hope is pinned on the exam that students begin to live under heavy pressure long before they write the test. To some extent, students physical condition is deteriorating not because P.E. is not internalized into the Gaokao, but because too many things are connected to the Gaokao.

Sports are important to students in middle and primary schools, but its not necessary to highlight its importance by making it a Gaokao subject. If students are not struggling with such heavy academic burden, and if every school provides them with proper sports facilities, students will naturally have more time to do sports and their health on the whole will improve.

If P.E. is made a Gaokao subject, it will be another item that students will have to work hard on. Or if P.E. is used as a subject that can add extra points to some studentscollege entrance examination result, its unfair to most Gaokao participants. It is not a practical method to help improve student health .

Sun Weiguo(www.kids21.cn): It is a good suggestion, but it should not be pushed too hard. It should be done step by step. P.E. should be strengthened since kindergarten—not suddenly imposed on senior middle schools. Otherwise, its unfair to these immediate graduates.

Strong physique is a result of long-term exercises since childhood, but can never be achieved within a short period of time. If P.E. is suddenly made a Gaokao subject, many senior middle school students will have to do a lot of sports during a certain period so as to cope with the upcoming Gaokao. The problem is that even if students suddenly begin to spend a lot of time on physical exercises, many of them may still fail in physical tests and this will further affect their Gaokao.

For so many years, academic performance has been the only criterion. As long as they can achieve good grades on exams, they are good students. No one cares about physical exercise, including teachers and parents. In many schools, P.E. classes are neglected.

Todays senior middle school students are seriously lacking in physical exercises. They cant expect their physique to improve overnight and its unfair to add P.E. to the Gaokao. If they are encouraged to do sports since kindergarten, physical exercise will become a habit, in which case they are very likely to have good health regardless of whether P.E. becomes a Gaokao subject.

Its not that P.E. should not be made a Gaokao subject, but its improper to push P.E. into the Gaokao too quickly. When physical education is stressed beginning in kindergarten, implementing the plan will be a natural thing. Otherwise, on one hand, it will not do so much to improve student health, and on the other hand, it will become a burden.

Yu Xiu (sports.sohu.com): In east Chinas Shandong Province, the education authorities have already started to include P.E. in the Gaokao. P.E. scores will be referred to when colleges recruit new students. This practice has to some extent kindled enthusiasm for physical exercises.

P.E. is an important part of a students overall education. I hope it will not be operated in the way other academic subjects are. When it becomes another examination-oriented discipline, students may become reluctant to do sports. As a result, it will do little help to improve their health.

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