I personally don't even think sports should be a lesson in school; school is for learning, not exercise. 'think exercise is fine and dandy? okay, but try and objectively justify why it should be "a lesson" in school when it could be just another break time? should kids be forced to learn? perhaps (I personally don't think so), should kids be forced to exercise? **** no - the government's role is not to make kids fitter - if that's their role then why aren't they forcing adults to stop smoking and to make them exercise when some of *them* will be dying of those things later on?
I'm not too pleased with my tax pounds going towards kids doing what they should/could be doing during break/lunch or after school
it's a waste of money and it might as well be either a free period or a different lesson
and I don't even believe, technically, in publicly owned educational facilities - I'm only saying this as a matter of opinion within the current structure
so with sports day, I'd say that it can definitely be an event - but, for the love of god, don't force kids into doing it if they don't want to
not everybody likes sports, and nobody needs to do it in school. it's like forcing everybody to play music as part of an ensemble - not everybody will be happy with it
and I'd *definitely* have my fair share of disagreements/hatred towards "cross country" - for a lot of people it is not only torturous (I wasn't even fat when I ran it, I was just asthmatic) but also embarrassing.
so my last word is that sports don't really have a place in school - school has a purpose, and if it to "teach" kids to do anything, playing football, rugby, jumping etc are so unimportant in that regard so they shouldn't really be included in terms of what I'd do if I were "the dictator" of the education system...