By Kim Burgess
Contributing Writer
Ah, finals are coming. A time to cram all night, scramble to finish up final projects and fill out all the blank pages in your physical education portfolio, also known as “the packet.”
I could spend time discussing what the point is in having physical education at the college level, and even more time bemoaning the fact that for an athletic school, even our athletes are required to have PE credits, but since it’s a requirement none of us can avoid, I will instead focus on how there is very little in the P.E. portfolios that seems applicable to the class we inevitably end up taking.
In what way is a page on fire safety or the history of The College of Saint Rose connected to bowling or fly fishing?
The reason given is that we are supposed to be provided with a liberal education. But we get that from the other required classes we take. In the P.E. portfolio, one of the pages instructs us to do a report and presentation on an academic journal article.
By the time I got to P.E., I’d already done that numerous times, including in another liberal education-required class which is actually titled “Expository Writing, Oral Communication and Research Technique.” Is it necessary to repeat this process under the guise of physical education?
Perhaps therein lies the problem. The description of our physical education classes, as taken directly from the Physical Education mission statement on Saint Rose’s site, explains, “The Physical Education Department is committed to the development of the whole person… The Wellness/Fitness Unit instructs the students in the following five dimensions (Spiritual, Physical, Intellectual, Emotional, and Social Dimensions).” Why then call it “Physical” Education? The name implies it’s about physical fitness. This seems like a miscommunication between what the class is and students’ expectations.
The five dimensions that P.E., and thus the portfolio, claim to operate under are also rather questionable. I understand I’m enrolled in a school originally founded on a religious basis, but speaking as an atheist I find it difficult to explain how my spirituality has improved over a semester. I didn’t believe in a higher being in January and I still don’t now. I suppose I should get points for being consistent?
My intellect is already stimulated in the five other classes I’m taking. Requiring me to attend an intellectual event on campus and have my portfolio signed like an elementary school student on a field trip seems like a flimsy excuse to make sure students actually bother to show up for these events.
Emotionally, I’m a wreck, but that’s to be expected because I’m a stressed-out college student with too little time in my day to do all of my schoolwork. Adding an oversized portfolio concerning more things I don’t have time for, like making sure I did community service and attended a wellness fair, where I, again, had to fill out more paperwork, does little to help improve my emotional state.
The social dimension is the one I find the most laughable. To some, college is a giant party away from home. None of us need a portfolio to check up on how we’re doing on that front. Though I will admit that the page concerning binge drinking might be helpful to any student who actually takes the time to read it.
For most, P.E. is a one-credit class, meaning students are generally unwilling and sometimes unable to put in more effort than the bare minimum. The P.E. portfolio as it stands now is a lot of trouble compiled in a large amount of paper. It’s unlikely we’ll see the portfolio go by the wayside, but perhaps if its more superfluous elements were eliminated, it might become more appealing to the masses. Or, at the very least, more tolerable.
