Physical education in the UK
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Physical education in the UK
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[post_date] => 2025-01-01 11:40:17
[post_date_gmt] => 2025-01-01 16:40:17
[post_content] => Practice Passage (Question 1-4)
*This passage is the property of Khan Academy and has been reformatted into an AAMC-style interface in their entirety by MedLife Mastery. MedLife Mastery does not endorse and is not an affiliate of Khan Academy.
In the United Kingdom, Physical Education (PE) is compulsory in state schools until students reach the age of 16. That is, sports are compulsory for as long as formal education is mandated by law. Because there are many children who don’t want to participate in PE classes, I believe that students should be allowed a choice. If their parents agree, why should they be forced to jump on a trampoline or do calisthenics? PE class is different from other classes because it involves what one does with one’s body. We acknowledge the right of individuals to control their own bodies—to determine whether and when they have an operation, to determine where they go and what they do. Why is this any different?
It is a red herring to say that PE makes any serious difference to people’s health. There are more effective ways of ensuring a healthy population than pushing children to run laps around a freezing sports field once a week. For example, schools could be addressing the poor diets young people have today and encouraging them to walk or bicycle to school rather than rely on the car.
Furthermore, sports are a waste of school time and resources. One or two PE lessons a week make very little difference to an individual’s health, but they make a huge difference in a school’s budget. Mandatory PE requires a whole extra department in schools, wasting a great deal of money and time that could be better spent on academics. It also requires schools to be surrounded by a large amount of land for playing fields, making it prohibitively expensive to build new schools in urban areas. Given the average current pupil–teacher ratios, the quality of teaching in PE classes is necessarily low, and the classes may even be dangerous to students who are not properly supervised. Our children are burdened enough in schools already, especially at the older end of the system, with multiple examinations. PE simply adds, needlessly, to this hectic schedule.
Many people argue that playing team sports builds character, encourages students to work with others, teaches children how to win and lose with good grace, and builds strong school spirit through competition with other institutions. It is often, they say, the experience of playing on a team together which builds the strongest friendships at school, friendships which endure for years afterwards. Many say the same benefits derive from the common endurance of prison.
Injuries sustained through school sport and the psychological trauma of being bullied for sporting ineptitude can mark people for years after they have left school. On that note, in an increasingly litigious age, a compulsory rather than voluntary sports program is a liability. More and more schools are avoiding team games such as rugby, soccer, hockey, and football due to the realistic fear of lawsuits. Teamwork can be better developed through music, drama, and community projects without the need to encourage an ultra-competitive ethos.
As for the argument that without compulsory PE, many members of society wouldn’t find out that they had a talent for a sport or even that they enjoyed it, students can discover this aptitude outside of school, without also discovering the bullying and humiliation that comes with PE classes more than with other lessons. The aim of compulsory PE isn’t being fulfilled at present in any case, as “sick notes” are produced with alarming regularity by parents complicit in their children’s wish to avoid it. Greater efforts to enforce it will only result in more deceit, children missing school for the entire day, or, in the most extreme cases, children being withdrawn from state education.
Adapted from A. Deane, “Physical Education, Compulsory,” Creative Commons. ©2011 Creative Commons.
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[questions] => Array
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[question] => What is the function of the statement in the first paragraph that “PE class is different from other classes”?
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 4
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
This is a “Reasoning Within the Text” question, which means that it wants you to explore the key idea, claim, or theme that is being expressed in a passage. You will have to evaluate the soundness of an argument, the reasonableness of its conclusions, and/or the appropriateness of its generalizations. It is crucial to carefully examine the strengths and weaknesses of the key ideas based on the information given.
The author does not state that “PE class is different” as a reason why it should be mandatory (option A). On the contrary, the author is asserting that students should have a choice because PE class is different. The passage states, “I believe that students should be allowed a choice…PE class is different from other classes because it involves what one does with one’s body” (paragraph 1). The author frames a philosophical question of choice around physical education, but doesn’t believe that this choice extends to other classes that do not primarily affect the human body (option D). The author dismisses the claim that PE makes any serious difference to people’s health as a “red herring”, and he does not use the statement that PE class is different as part of this argument (option B). The author is not using the statement to argue why parental permission might be necessary (option C).
Thus, option D is correct.
)
[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. It is part of an argument why PE classes should be required.
)
[1] => Array
(
[each_answer] => B. It is part of an argument that PE classes improve people’s health.
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[2] => Array
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[each_answer] => C. It explains why students should only be exempt from PE with parental permission.
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[3] => Array
(
[each_answer] => D. It explains why students should have a choice about whether to take PE while not having a choice about taking other compulsory classes.
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[1] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 3873426850
[question] => Which of the following assumptions is made by the author in relation to the argument about students’ hectic schedules?
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
This is a “Reasoning Beyond the Text” question, which means that it wants you to either apply or extrapolate the ideas in the passage to new situations or to assess how new information would impact the ideas presented in the passage. It is important to understand the assumptions underlying the article, and how new information may or may not shift the central thesis.
The author describes the busy schedules of students, and argues for elimination of PE to help alleviate that burden. This would only be true if PE was not replaced by another compulsory course with a similar amount of work involved (option C). The fact that PE tends not to have a final examination (option A) and does not have a heavy homework burden (option B), suggests that PE might be relatively less likely to cause additional stress for a student relative to another class. These are not part of the author’s assumptions. The point about requiring students in the higher grades to prepare for multiple examinations (option D) is also not addressed or assumed by the author.
Thus, option C is correct.
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[answers] => Array
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[0] => Array
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[each_answer] => A. PE tends not to have a final examination.
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[each_answer] => B. PE tends not to have a heavy homework burden.
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[each_answer] => C. Compulsory PE, if eliminated, would not be replaced by another compulsory course.
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[each_answer] => D. It is unfair to require students in the higher grades to prepare for multiple examinations.
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[2] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 83407773
[question] => Assume as true that students are more likely to obtain specialist coaching at sports clubs outside of school than in school. How would this information be relevant to the passage?
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 2
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
This is a “Reasoning Beyond the Text” question, which means that it wants you to either apply or extrapolate the ideas in the passage to new situations or to assess how new information would impact the ideas presented in the passage. It is important to understand the assumptions underlying the article, and how new information may or may not shift the central thesis.
The author writes, “As for the argument that without compulsory PE, many members of society wouldn’t find out that they had a talent for a sport or even that they enjoyed it, students can discover this aptitude outside of school, without also discovering the bullying and humiliation that comes with PE classes more than with other lessons” (paragraph 6). The author is offering a rebuttal to the argument that students have no alternative to finding a talent for sports in school settings. If it is true that students are obtaining specialist coaching at sports clubs outside of school more often than in school, then it would further support this point that was made in rebuttal. The fact would be more than a simple restatement of an objection to compulsory physical education classes (option A), because it would actually serve as a clear example that supports a point that is already made. This fact would not challenge any of the author’s claims (option C) or contradict any of the author’s examples (option D).
Thus, option B is correct.
)
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[each_answer] => A. It would restate an objection to compulsory physical education classes.
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[each_answer] => B. It would support a point about discovering sports aptitude made in rebuttal.
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[each_answer] => C. It would directly challenge one of the author’s claims.
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[each_answer] => D. It would contradict one of the author’s examples.
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[3] => Array
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[quiz_unique_key] => 4240073053
[question] => The author’s central theme for the whole passage is:
[value] => Array
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[answer] => 3
[description] => Reason for the Correct Answer:
This is a “Foundations of Comprehension” question, which means that it wants you to understand the central theme or idea and be able to figure out what specific words or phrases mean within that context. It is important to identify specific parts of the passage such as the thesis, example, and counterexample.
The author states that current law in the United Kingdom makes PE compulsory in state schools for students under age 16, and then argues in the third sentence that “students should be allowed a choice.” The author describes the right of individuals to control their own bodies in other settings, in order to argue for an exception from mandates for PE classes. His main point is not opposing educational mandates or compulsory education in general, but only in the instance of PE (option A). Although the author describes a number of possible negative consequences of PE, this is not his central point (option B). This is just one component of the larger argument that PE should not be compulsory (option C). Finally, the author argues that sports are a waste of time and money. Many points made in the third paragraph could be used to suggest eliminating both PE and sports altogether, however the author never explicitly advocates fully abolishing PE in UK schools (option D), rather the central theme that underlies all of the claims made in the passage is that PE should not be compulsory.
Thus, option C is correct.
)
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[each_answer] => A. opposing formal educational mandates.
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[each_answer] => B. describing the consequences of making PE compulsory.
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[each_answer] => C. presenting reasons for why PE should not be compulsory.
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[each_answer] => D. advocating that PE be abolished in UK state schools.
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[559743|1] => D
[559743|2] => C
[559743|3] => B
[559743|4] => C
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