Ed Without The Phys
By the end of sophomore summer a student must have completed at least three terms of Physical Education or else pay a $50 fine. Even now, sitting in my room, a 12-ounce can of Mountain Dew in one hand, a half-eaten package of Swiss Rolls in the other, I am still haunted by it.
I started, as every Dartmouth student does, with the swimming test. I had to take it twice. You're not allowed to walk the length of the pool. You're supposed to swim, in case you ever fall into the Connecticut River.
I've never liked Phys Ed. Never been good at itwhether it was getting broadsided by a dodgeball, smacked upside the head by a hockey puck, or vomiting after the two-mile run—for some reason I just never caught on to the fan of it all. So why should I have to take it? Kenyon Jones, the associate director of the athletics department, told me the rationale behind the requirement is "to get across to students the concepts of fitness and wellness. More and more, college graduates do less and less physically.... We make them aware of the need for physical fitness. "And why sophomore summer deadline? "That's probably an arbitrary decision, but I think it's a good one," saysjones.
Indeed it is. Approximately 100 students are fined each term for either failing their Phys Ed class or being past the sophomore summer deadline. At 50 bucks a pop, that's $ 15,000 a year (summer term not included). I'm well into my junior year now, so $50 fines are like gravy to me. But I thought I had it all figured out this term: "Surviving the Dartmouth Experience,"a stress management class to fulfill the requirement.
The course was summarily canceled. Not enough student interest.
Thirty Phys Ed options were offered this term, with multiple sections for many of them. Mine was the only one canceled.
During the 1989-1990 year the Dean's Office proposed dropping the whole requirement as a cost-saving device. The faculty voted against it. Every year the athletic department sends out a student survey, and consistently a majority of students express enthusiastic support for the requirement.
Okay, so keep the requirement. Just let us fulfill it in ways that are relevant to our lives. Instead of swimming in a pool, how about playing pool? "The Last-Minute Paper Kiewit Sprint"? Or a new class based on Dartmouth
students' junk food addictions: "Surviving the Chicken Tenders Experience"?
