BCIT Computer Science students are currently protesting the
mandatory gym time that exists only for them. Other students at BCIT don’t have
to go through this class to graduate. Every Thursday they are required to check
in at the campus gym at 8:30am and stay there for 50 minutes.
The primary complaint students have is that they are the only
faculty to have this requirement, which reinforces the stereotype that CompSci
students are “exercise-phobic geeks”
“People have a stereotype image of a computer programmer. It’s usually a rotund
guy with big thick glasses and bad shirts hunched over a computer in his
parents’ basement,” says Holisky[a protesting student]. Those people exist, he
says, “but you can’t tell most of us apart from business students.” And
business students, he adds, aren’t forced to take gym.
Not only does this have a negative
impact on the image of these students, it often provides additional hassle to
the commuter student, who may have to travel upwards 1hr to arrive at campus,
forcing them to wake up earlier. Students have also commentated that it is
quite easy to avoid actually exercising while there, defeating the purpose of
this program ““When I’m there, I do as little physical activity as possible.
I’ve started taking advantage of the steam room. It’s a good way to start the
day,” says Holisky.
I think that if the school wants to
implement mandatory gym time, they should do it across all faculties and not
single out individual groups of people. This plays too much on stereotypes
and ignores the fact that though there may be a larger amount of inactive
people in CompSci, there are also people who work out regularly, and others
that despite being in other majors, are equally unfit. However, I’d prefer it that the school gets
rid of this requirement all together.
The students at BCIT are all adults who understand the benefits of
regular exercise, and should be allowed to make a choice for themselves whether
or not they want to. It is not up to the
school to spoon feed them a healthy life style at this point in their life.
Karen <3
ReplyDeleteAs always, you've written a well argued response :) I completely agree with you on the point that these students are self-sustained adults. They're not teens and it's not the school's place to force healthy activity into their lives at this point. It's also true that the time they spend 'in the gym' may not result in any physical exercise. If students are forced to go to the gym, chances are they're only going inside to put up with requirements, not to work out. On a separate note, I do think that computer students should be encouraged to exercise more frequently. Although not all computer students fit the stereotypical image, and many may be more fit than math or science students, I think majority of computer students really are under more physical and mental strain than students of other majors, since they absorb more harmful emissions from computers, for longer periods of time. The current plan isn't very fair or effective, but it definitely won't hurt for compsci students to exercise more.
Karen....
ReplyDeleteGreat grammar and punctuation throughout your entire post. I love the way that you mentioned these students are not, let's just say "babies", they do not need to be told what to do in order to get by in life. They have already made it this far, in order for them to be learning at their specific institution. It surprises me that this gym class is only mandatory for the computer programmer's and not other programs. I find this extremely unfair, especially cause it's not just computer programming that has immobile students pondering around the classroom, many other program's do as well. Such as, animation courses, business courses, and many more. If individuals are paying for their courses they shouldn't be told what to do. I find that you made your opinion clear and picked out the most important issues within the article. Easy to read and understand :D
Karen
ReplyDeleteThis is a very impressive post you have there, you do appear to see from the perspective of the protester. It is very easy to follow and understand, and you do convince me of how it is unfair of why only compsci students have to take mandatory PE courses. You have clearly explained your topic in a relatively decent way, and I think it is overall a good piece of writing.