As course selection for the spring semester wraps up, students are both triumphant and distressed. They woke up bright and early, logged onto their SIS portal and enrolled in all their new classes—or they had a nervous breakdown as they realized the seat they expected to take had already been snatched by someone else. Despite the flawed course selection process we have here at Case Western Reserve University, though, quite a bit can also be said about the school’s decisions on general education requirements—particularly physical education (PE).

Many of the physical education courses that fulfill general education requirements are twice a week and provide no course credit, which wouldn’t be that bad until you realize you have to take four different classes to meet this requirement. Granted, these classes amount to two semesters of courses and can be taken in alternative semester-long courses instead, but even these semester-long courses end up being about two hours per week at an inconvenient time.

It is worth noting that physical education is typically something that will make someone break a sweat, especially if the class is fulfilling the movement credits that are required. Therefore, even if the class is only 50 minutes twice a week, students still have to account for the time it will take them to get back home to shower and get ready for the rest of their classes. Furthermore, many physical education classes are in inconvenient locations—typically the Veale Convocation, Recreation and Athletic Center or Wyant Athletic and Wellness Center—which are at completely opposite ends of the campus. Many second-years find themselves living in the South Residential Village closer to Veale Center, but by the time third- and fourth-years have already chosen their classes, desperate to fulfill their requirements on time, the pickings for these second-years are slim.

The third- and fourth-years who find themselves choosing PE courses only a couple semesters before graduation may end up having to make the long walk twice a week from North Residential Village to South Side for one class before dashing back home to prepare for the rest of their day. This walk can take anywhere from 25–30 minutes, and in the snow, it’s sure to take even longer. While there is a shuttle system, during bad weather days, these buses are likely to be stuffed to the brim and unwilling to try cramming more students on board.

Although Veale Center is a nice gym, it is in a pretty inconvenient location for many students, and therefore it seems as if the university should try to move more courses to North Side if possible. Another solution, though, would be to simply lower the amount of courses required to fulfill this degree requirement. Students often find themselves putting far more effort into waking up early to workout before a long day of classes ahead of them than seems necessary. And this is only more inconvenient as the times offered for the classes are typically when other courses are held or bright and early in the morning. Many students prefer to study late at night and wake up later in the morning to get ready for classes, but if they only have time to go to physical education classes in the morning, they may just end up in a burned out and sleepy cycle.

Alternatively, if the school does not want to lower the amount of requirements, then it doesn’t seem like too much to ask for some form of credit attached to these physical wellness classes. Case Cooks, a course that many students take to bypass a semester of actually working out, offers credit and teaches students practical lessons about how to cook for themselves. Furthermore, students do a simple assignment to prove what they’ve learned, which allows them to get easy and relatively stress-free credit for their time and efforts. Although it can be argued that students shouldn’t be rewarded for the bare minimum, it seems as if putting time into something that we have to take—despite it possibly having nothing to do with our future life or career—entitles us to some form of credit, even if it is just one unit.

It is worth noting that many schools of similar academic rigor to CWRU do not have this requirement built into their curriculum. In fact, a study by Oregon State University found that 56.2% of institutions actually did not require a PE course in general education requirements. This majority is continuing to grow every year.

It doesn’t seem too far off to postulate that CWRU likely has this general education requirement to encourage students to become orientation leaders. One of the main incentives of the weeks of preparation during the summer to welcome in the new class is a half semester credit of physical education movement credit. If students begin after their first year and are able to stay in the program every year after, they are able to knock out a total of three half credits to count toward their physical education requirements. Although painted as an incentive of going through the program, the reality is that the school has created the requirement in the first place. In fact, this incentive is probably enough to allow the school to get away with paying orientation leaders less than they would have to for weeks of work if the overall general education requirement were lower. Orientation leaders should certainly receive school credit for all the hard work they put into the weeks leading up to the new semesters. But perhaps the school should reconsider the current course load that students already have to contend with at such a rigorous university when making decisions about our health and wellness.