Skateboarding and schools; the relationship between both haven’t been very productive or even existent. Most schools have banned skateboards completely and want nothing to do with the newly-named sport. Now entering the Olympics and growing faster than ever, why does it seem that schools are reluctant to accept skateboarding? Well, not all are; in fact, there are over 500 schools in 31 states and Canada, Germany, Singapore and the Dominican Republic that have skateboarding not only listed as an option for physical education, but have it integrated into the school system itself, adapting to this new era and the sports that came along with it. 

So why is it that Sage Creek doesn’t have a skateboarding program? Carlsbad High School has had skate physical education classes for five years without any problems. This doesn’t only benefit the students; skateparks help the community in more ways than just physical education, they are able to help fight crime. “Chula Vista, in terms of violent crimes, scored 2.38 (1 in 249) and for property crime, scored 21.05 (1 in 48). Compared to the national averages, violence is marginally lower but property crimes are much lower,”  this being a percentage out of 100. Through this study, there has been a strong correlation between the number of public parks and crime rates. Due to the number of skateparks Chula Vista has, it is able to offset the crime rate, positively impacting its community. Reducing crimes and giving citizens a place to participate in their sport is a win-win situation. 

Currently, however, there is a way to skate for physical education. If the student is diligent enough and meets the right qualifications to participate, one can take an independent PE class and use skateboarding as the requirement. So if I was able to go through the system and use skateboarding to fill the requirement for PE, why can’t it be listed as Skate or Surf PE? Well, it can be. Carlsbad High has it listed and Sage Creek High should. Although it won’t be an overnight process, adding a skate and surf PE class to the schedule would benefit both the school and students. Due to our school’s Southern California lifestyle, a majority of students skate and surf already. Therefore, adding it to a class schedule would not only promote physical health but support the surf team that we already have at Sage Creek.

Some seniors have found that later on in this year that they don’t meet required PE class credits. Not only would the additional options help these seniors, they would also be more convenient. Acting as an off-roll, this would give seniors more time that is needed for other rigorous classes that they are enrolled in, meeting the required PE credits with the sport that they already partake in. By integrating this into Sage Creek’s scheduling, it would be mutually beneficial for the school and its students. By refusing to add skate and surf PE to Sage Creek’s curriculum options, the school makes itself obsolete in this new and changing era.