Every McClatchy student remembers taking the physical fitness test in their P.E. class freshman year. The state-mandated test is comprised of six tests, including cardiovascular, push-ups, sit-ups, trunk lift, flexibility, and Body Mass Index (BMI). In the past, BMI was treated as its own pass or fail test. This year, the test has been updated, and now the standards for each test are based on an individual’s BMI.
To determine a student’s BMI, they are measured for their height and weight, and then a formula is used to determine what the state of California considers a healthy weight range for a particular height. A student with a high BMI is considered overweight, and a student with a low BMI is considered underweight.
In the physical fitness test this year, students with high BMIs are required to do a higher number of pacers or a faster mile-run, depending on which one they choose to do, while students with low BMIs have lower requirements.
Students have to pass at least five out of the six different tests in order to pass the fitness test as a whole, meaning that in the past, if a student failed the BMI test, they would have to pass each of the other five tests. This year, it will be harder for students with an “overweight” BMI to do that, because the requirements for passing are much higher.
“If you have a higher BMI, you have to do an unreasonable amount,” said freshman Carenna Thompson. “BMI is messed up, anyway,” she added, referencing the growing idea that BMI is not actually an accurate measure of health and fitness.
BMI considers a person’s weight relative to their height in order to determine whether someone is healthy or unhealthy. It equates weight to health, without considering a number of other things that can affect a person’s physical fitness, especially when you consider the fact that muscle weighs more than fat.
As for the reasoning behind updating the fitness test, P.E. teacher and athletic director Mr. Feickert said that the state of California had a conversation with the school district, and “questions are being asked, ‘are we holding the kids accountable that did not pass the test to continue to take P.E.?’”
In the State of California, you are required to take four years of P.E. Our district signs a waiver for the Sac City Unified students to only take two years, on the condition that they pass the physical fitness test. So if you pass the physical fitness test, you only need to take two years of P.E. If you don’t pass the physical fitness test, you don’t get the waiver. So if you don’t pass as a freshman, you have to take a P.E. class and retake the fitness test your sophomore year. If you don’t pass sophomore year, you have to take it again junior year. However, if you don’t pass it senior year, you still get to graduate, because you met the state’s requirement of taking four years of P.E.
The issue that arises is that students in programs that require an extra class, like the academy programs or VAPA, have no room in their schedules for extra years of P.E., but would have to take more P.E. if they failed the fitness test, meaning that if a VAPA student can’t pass the physical fitness test because of their BMI, they might not be able to be in VAPA anymore because of the schedule conflict.
This has left many VAPA students worried.
“I’m not worried for myself, but I’m definitely worried for some of my friends that are worried about it,” said Carenna Thompson. “They still deserve to be in VAPA.”
Thompson also mentioned that in her VAPA class, her teacher helped students do push-ups and train for the fitness tests.
VAPA students aren’t the only ones who feel that this test isn’t great for students.
“In my opinion, it’s not a fair test,” said Mr. Feickert. “But we don’t get to determine what we have to test.”
“I think in the P.E. department, we’re doing everything we possibly can to get all our kids to pass,” he added.
This year, for the first time, the P.E. teachers are offering a walk test as an alternative to the mile-run and the pacer test.
“We’re gonna time you to see how fast you can walk the mile, and then we’re gonna put a heart monitor on your thumb so we can determine what you heart rate was at that time with your mile run time, put it into a formula, and they will tell us whether or not you passed,” said Mr. Feickert.
“We try to do different tests to try to get the kids to pass. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t.”
The fitness testing occurred the week after spring break, so students are currently learning whether or not they passed.
