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<title> Public health in danger - please don't reduce our PE lessons! </title>
The Department of Education in Sweden has suggested that the amount of PE lessons at school should be reduced. The arguments are that there is not enough money, and the money there is should be spent on the more important theoretical subjects. These points, however, seem quite odd to the fact that during the recent years, many alarming reports have told us that people in today's high-standard society get too little physical exercise. Due to this, fatness and heart diseases have increased, and general condition and health has worsened - even among young people. Below, I aim to pick out some points that must be considered before any cuts are made on the PE subject. 

First, it must be emphasised that we as human beings are made to activate ourselves. As children, we are out at play many hours a day. Then, suddenly, at the age of seven, we are required to sit still, concentrating, in a desk at school. And what happens? Children not used to long schooldays tend to get restless and unconcentrated if they cannot fulfil their needs of exercise. Of course, there are breaks, but is 15-20 minutes sufficient? Not all schoolyards can provide good opportunities to play; far too many only consist of dull pavement. The result is that many pupils sit still even during the breaks, and thus it is easy to see that the PE lessons are unvaluable times for physical exercise. 

Here I can mention an article I read about a week ago: In a school in southern Sweden, a plan is carried out in which the pupils have one hour of PE every single day. Though the schooldays are now 45 minutes longer, the teachers say that the children are more alert and concentrated now.1 Does not this show us that a reduction cannot be sufficiently justified?

However, one can never avoid the fact that there will always be pupils who really dislike sports in all forms, maybe especially at higher levels when sports often tend to become competitive and connected with performance anxiety - it is not a game any longer. There will probably be a number of students who will skip PE lessons if there are "too many" of these per week. But although the fact that many students do not put a great value in PE may seem like an argument for reducing the amount of hours, it is not. On the contrary, it is probably these students who need exercise more than others. The important thing is, as I see it, that there is time for activities, whatever the sort, during schooltime: a quick walk or a swim, for example. PE is important, but must not become a burden!

School must realise their great responsibility of young people's general health. There are many families that never come in contact with any sports activities or other physical exercise, and, if PE and health education is further reduced from the school schedules, where shall the children of such families get their understanding of the importance of good health from? Undoubtedly, school sports are a natural way of getting in contact with physical exercise, and this is getting even more important nowadays, when a great deal of the highly esteemed, prestige-filled occupations are to a large extent sedentary. People use their cars even if they only are travelling a short distance, and consequently, this mentality is many times transferred onto the children.

Furthermore, reports are showing us the increasing number of overweight people, and fatness can lead to heart diseases and reduced life length - all due to lesser exercise. This alarming development can only be stopped if we realise the need of a general understanding of health. And is it not just as important that school provides young people with that general understanding, as with general knowledge in subjects like language, social studies and science?

So what I would like to say is that although an understanding of different sports and general health issues such as smoking, alcohol and drugs (which are a part of basic education in Sweden) is not directly significant to an education in other subjects, it is still the school's responsibility to provide students with general knowledge at all levels. After all, people who are at school today are going to take care of tomorrow's society. And how are we supposed to be able to take care of our society if we cannot take care of ourselves? 
1 "Dagens lek morgondagens hopp", SvD tue. 15 Feb 2000
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