by Dalton Waterman
Gym class can be fun from time to time. The reason most students will express their dissatisfaction with gym is because of the circuits. That is why the mile is hated in gym class, because it is not a circuit, it is worse, it is a fitness test. Fitness tests are certainly loathed among students, but perhaps the fitness test that students dread the most is the mile.
Students hate the idea of sweating in school; it makes them uncomfortable in their next class, which leads to a distraction from learning. Students have enough mental exercise during the day, that they are not expecting to test their strength and endurance during the day.
Now most of the students will say that they won't try on the mile, but once the teacher says go, many of them will change their minds. Part of that is because they realize the possibility of actually ending up failing gym class, but for the most part it is because of the competitive nature of the boys in the class. People try hard on the mile because they simply want to beat their peers. That competitiveness is what drives the students to run faster and push themselves ahead of their peers. Students also tend to use a peer as a sort of guide to help themselves keep a solid pace throughout the mile.
A hot topic that surrounds the mile is the unfair scoring between the genders. Boys try harder because they need a 6:30 to get an 100%, and girls need a 8:30 to get an 100%. The boys have expressed their disgust with that, but it doesn’t look like anything will be done about it anytime soon.
No matter how much the mile is scrutinized throughout the student body, it is then realized that they only have to do it twice a year if they are in gym class. Honestly, the mile is not that bad, and it can't hurt to get some physical activity during the day because students are sitting at a desk for most of it.
