Cameron: Schools should increase focus on sport...

Schools should increase focus on physical exercise. Untill we change our attitude towards physical activity, sport will remain a spectator phenomenon in this country.

If anything, more diversification is needed. There's no point in increasing the amount of time dedicated to playing common sports like football or hockey; somebody who has an affinity with these things will pursue it in their own time.

And when do we fit this in? School curriculums are already being stuffed full of "we need to put more focus on X"

This was posted from The Student Room's Android App on my E15i

I'm all for encouraging sport. However, there needs to be some changes. It's cruel to expect someone that doesn't like sport (as so many school kids don't) to be forced into hours of Rugby a day in freezing temperatures, for example. Currently, the un-sporty ones don't make much of a protest as P.E is only an hour or two per week; increase this time and you increase their misery. Whether they like exercise or not it could be seen as a necessary evil, but it seems unrealistic and primitive to force students into sports they desperately hate - the benefit is health, not skill at a particular sport. Therefore, movements should be made to offer more sports and an alternative in conjunction with the main. For example, on a day which would normally be football day, yoga or aerobics should be offered. While this increased choice would increase spending etc. I think it's a vital condition of increasing sporting focus.

A second effect of this might be a slight financial balance as health increases and therefore long-term NHS spending decreases.

Of course, one could argue that the extra (tax) money needed for this could be better directed. Health is important, but is it more important than policing, for example?

... while selling school playing fields and cutting sports funding.

Makes sense, Call Me Dave

source

About the selling of school fields: 'The DfE later added that of the 21 approved for disposal, 14 were of schools that had closed, four were sites that became surplus when existing schools amalgamated, one was surplus marginal grassland on the school site and the proceeds were invested in the school library and better sports changing facilities.

The sports facilities on two more of the playing fields were improved by developers and then leased back for use by the schools and local communities.'

Also, I personally am the type who would have hated extra time spent doing sports in PE lessons back at school. Our PE lessons weren't that bad to be honest, but I would have preferred to be learning Maths or something.

weirdo