A lot of controversy exists over whether physical education should be required everyday or not. Some people think that physical education is not much necessary because schools’ primary role is to convey academic knowledge into students for their future success. However, after some reflections, we would become to know students’ physical health is more important than their academic performance because it is difficult for students to study hard without physical fitness. Not only that, daily physical activities also can help students build strong characters and social skills.
First of all, the academic performance level depends highly on students’ health conditions. In other words, although students have academic potentials and aptitudes, they might have many difficulties in promoting their potentials without physical health which support their learning process. One significant reason is that one’s physical conditions have a great influence on their brain activity, especially involved in attention span. According to a study conducted by KPA, Korea Psychology Association in 2008, students with daily exercises were three times more likely to show attention span in their studying than others who do not spend regular time on exercising. The reason is that habitual physical activities, especially aerobic sports, facilitate chemical secretions, such as acetylcholine and dopamine which stimulate their brain activities. What this result indicate is clear. Successful academic performances are closely connected to one’s bodily health and, therefore, schools put a premium on daily physical educations to keep students’ physical fitness.
In addition, physical education helps students develop their social skills and build strong characters. Most physical education involves group activities that require a sense of cooperation, such as soccer, baseball, and American football. Participating in these activities, students naturally become to know how to work in a team and how to collaborate for fulfilling their common goal. These experiences, as a result, enhance students’ interpersonal skills and give valuable wisdoms for living in a human society. For example, one of the famous professional politicians in Korea, Park min, often states in his speech that his experiences as a member of university soccer club have influenced his overall political life, especially when it comes to nurturing his social relationships. As the example shows, students can obtain a huge amount of benefits from physical education in terms of interpersonal skills.
In conclusion, I firmly believe that physical education should be required everyday. This is because they are helpful for students’ physical fitness required for successful academic performance as well as they enable students to facilitate their social skills. In this sense, the old saying, “A sound mind lives in a sound body” gives us a good insight about importance of physical education.