Some people believe that sport is an essential part of school life for children, while others feel it should be purely optional. Discuss both views and give your opinion.
There is a heated debate whether sports activities must be mandatorily included in school curriculum or must be considered as an optional subject. However, I would argue that sports should be mixed in the educational program of every student.
Primarily, it is often said that sport is not a major subject which must be learned by every child. As can be expected, there are major subjects that can greatly improve the literacy rate of the students, such as language and mathematics. This is because these subjects are imperative if the students reach higher education. The knowledge of the student in terms of academic insights will be gauged before they will be accepted by universities to study in their respective departments. Linked to this is the fact that if the students study sports games rather than important subjects, it will consume most of their time, which could have been used to prepare for academic examinations. Obviously, it is more challenging to take academic quizzes, which involve memorization and analysis, than physical education exams.
However, it can be argued that studying sports keep the children become physically fit and healthy. For example, playing basketball burns the excess calories and fats of the students. This phenomenon does not occur in studying difficult subjects, which is sedentary in nature. Another reason is that the teamwork and the ability to lead a group can be reinforced and developed through engaging in any sport activity. Bing a good team member and a leader are necessary values to become successful in life. To illustrate, in some private and public companies, the employers will test their employees if they are adherent to the policies of the institution. Similarly, management skills are important in every occupation as it will help a certain organization to become progressive and systematic.
In conclusion, I personally believe that sports should be made as a mandatory subject in schools due to the fact that it will help the students to build key skills which are important when they grow up. Provided that there is a balanced schedule of subjects in schools, the students can study both major and minor subjects equally.