Should PHE be a required course on campus?

Megan Turcotte
Contributing Writer

Physical Health Education is a heavily debated and talked about topic on campus that many students on campus seem to have mixed feelings about. Currently, PHE is a graduation requirement for all students on campus however, the class is not accredited. Some of the negative feelings toward PHE come from it not being accredited.

“Somewhere between 2006 and 2010 because it used to be an accredited course, but then they wanted to do away with it entirely and so Julia Davis who used to be athletic director here, just until recently, she was so passionate about PHE remaining that she worked with the administration side of things to at least keep it a requirement but no credit, so that was a compromise,” Thayer said.

Thayer acknowledges students’ reluctance to take PHE; however, she sheds some light on a common misunderstanding of the myth pertaining to payment of PHE.

“I think that it would validate it a lot more for students because that’s probably the biggest complaint that I hear is that, we are not getting any credit for this, I do try to remind them they don’t pay for it because it is a zero credit class they do not pay for it, they do pay the activity fee which they would be charged for regardless to use the facility,” said Thayer.

Contrary to others’ negative beliefs about PHE, instructor and UMF senior Julia Halley shares her experience with PHE:

“I was actually very annoyed with having to take PHE because I thought I already knew everything and then I found out I had some messed up form, I actually learned so much more than I thought,” Halley said. “I do think it’s beneficial to students who do have an interest in wanting to learn to be physically active because a lot of students just tell me that don’t know how or that they truly didn’t know why it was important, like that they knew that they had to do it but, they didn’t know how important it was.”

UMF student Logan Whitley, a health and fitness minor, does not share the same opinion as Halley: “I think it depends on who you talk to but I think, overall from my personal experience, that no matter who you are whether you’re an athlete or not. There is some form that people do not like. Because for an athlete, they feel like they can be more effective on their own, and then for someone who just doesn’t like exercising they feel like it is not well designed enough specific to them for them to want to go,” Whitley said.

Despite Whitley’s negative feelings toward PHE, he shares some of his input to improve the program, “I think reworking it to fit more people would definitely make it more desirable and less dreaded and people would be more apt to go because they feel like they are getting something out of it,” Whitley said.

UMF Nurse Practitioner Kate Landry adds some of her professional insight into the benefits of having PHE on campus:

“The UMF Fitness and Recreation Center is of tremendous value to the campus and community. Access to an exercise facility allows students to improve overall health, partake in disease prevention, facilitates healthy peer connections, and can lead to greater academic performance and student retention,” Landry said.

Landry explains the benefits of being physically active, “Regular physical activity supports and promotes physical and mental well-being. Habitual exercise improves cardiovascular health, facilitates short and long-term smoking cessation efforts, improves cognition in young and older adults, may provide modest protection against certain types of cancers, and may improve glycemic control. Additionally, weight-bearing exercise is associated with an increase in bone mineral density,” Landry said.

Thayer shares her personal experience with PHE when she was a student at UMF. “PHE was life-changing for me. I was an unhealthy, depressed, teenager and something changed for me during the course. It just clicked that physical activity makes a positive difference, since I experienced those benefits I wanted to share them with other people,” Thayer said.

Even though PHE can be a sore subject for some people, it can be a great resource for others. There are undeniable benefits that can come from taking the course. Debunking the myth that students have to pay for this class hopefully will allow students to have a more open mind.