A student needs to fulfill many requirements in order to graduate, but few of these requisite courses are approached with as much apathy as physical education (PE). Students habitually cut, fail to suit up and arrive late, and even those who come prepared for class often slack off and put in only a modicum of effort. Grading students on their performance will increase students' work ethic.

In most course, grades are based on a student's performance, easily quantified by tests and assignments. For PE instructors, who must assign much of a grade based on the student's attitude and effort, the task is difficult; it is not easy to constantly monitor a PE class full of slackers. The fundamental problem with the system is that the student has no outside incentive to actually try. Because PE grades do not count on the student's grade point average (GPA) and the grades are not heavily performance based, only intrinsically motivated students will take PE seriously enough to put in a genuine effort.

Sadly, the students who are motivated are not really the ones who need to learn fitness habits for later life; it is the slackers who need PE the most and repeatedly slip through the cracks. If students fail to learn basic elements of exercise, such as the proper technique to use fitness center equipment, they will have more trouble staying fit later on, when there is no one around to ensure a healthy lifestyle.

The best way to approach this problem is not to try and motivate the students by trying to make PE more fun or more exciting. Little can be done to make students care about PE, just like there is very little that can be done to make students care about math, science, English or art. The PE department needs to test students on their ability to perform basic tasks from every unit, as well as test the students' understanding of the rules and concepts of the game. Though this may not be enough for students who have no concern for their grades, it will at least force those who do to put in the same amount of work as they do in every other class.

Although state standards exist, Gunn should strive higher than their mediocre expectations. Gunn already does a good job compared to state standards. In the 2005-2006 fitness tests, 68 percent of Gunn's ninth graders met all six of the state's fitness standards, and 89 percent met five out of the six standards. In the state of California, only 27 percent of ninth graders passed all of the tests and another 26 percent passed five out of six tests.

Although Gunn's problem with PE is nowhere near as severe as that of most other schools, students still need to work harder to resolve the issues with PE. It is up to the PE teacher to ensure the class is exciting enough, but ultimately, if a student does not want to participate to their fullest ability, it is unfair to expect the teacher to be able to change that with literally no incentive power to work with. Testing students on their progress in every unit, both on the theory and practical aspects of the sports, as well as making PE grades factor into the student's GPA are sure-fire ways to get people to put in the effort, and possibly even instill the student with some health conscious habits for the future.

–Unsigned editorials represent the majority opinion of the staff (assenting: 27; dissenting: 4)