Freshmen at Manheim Township High School are required to take one gym class out of two options: freshman gym for boys or freshman gym for girls. These are the only options that are given, and that is a significant problem in our school district. We are living in a time when there are more than two genders- there are people who identify as neither male nor female, and some of those people attend the high school. It would be much better if all gym classes had students of all genders.  

The fear seems to be that students would be more self conscious if they had gym class in an environment that was not separated.  Teachers and faculty seem to be apprehensive that students may feel more comfortable among peers who are more similar to them. Female classes are often stereotyped as being less competitive; however, there is a possibility that students assigned to the female class would want to be more competitive, or that those assigned to the male class would want to be less competitive. While there are benefits to having one class that is more competitive than another, it is difficult to justify why this division must be determined by a person’s sex. Students who are not as competitive as others may feel out of place or unintentionally push their peers outside of their comfort zones. If the intent was truly to decrease student discomfort in the gym atmosphere, the way things are being determined now is counterproductive, as students pushing each other more could cause more stress and discomfort. The problem is not that the classes are split, but rather the way that it is done. Rather than splitting classes by sex, it would likely be more comfortable for students to be split by how comptetive they want to be. 

The  freshman year is the only time when Manheim Township students are split into these classes. Sophomores and upperclassmen have a choice of classes based upon what type of gym class they want to take in terms of activities they want to egage in, not what gender or sex they want to be taking it with. For students who have been attending Manheim Township for their entire school careers, this change is an unnecessary transition. In elementary, intermediate, and middle school, students in the same grade all had a chance to be in class together. Students were often in the same gym class despite their gender, which contrasted with freshman year gym class. For years, students were engaged in gym classes with all genders. Freshman gym changed this consistent structure, and students could experience the same stress and discomfort the school was trying to prevent. In the first year of high school, changing how gym classes are determined could cause stress for students, not reduce it. Essentially, the single year of change in this regard freshman year does not make sense if the structure will change back for sophomores the following year.

Another problem can arise when these classes are not associating students with people who are the same gender as themselves. For students who are not male for female, being assigned to a class that labels them as such can be stressful or limiting. Individuals have expressed discomfort with being assigned to a class of a particular gender that they did not identify with. In 2021, many people have acknowledged that a person’s gender can be something other than male or female, and having only female and male gym classes diminishes this fact. In a world that is not seen as binary by many people, gym classes that are binary are not appropriate. 

Since the intent is to encourage student comfort, this structure of classes is limiting for students who do not feel they belong in a girls or boys class. Again, considering the school’s intent of increasing comfort, splitting students into these two classes does the opposite, if anything. Rather than increasing students’ comfort by giving them an environment where they are with peers of the same sex, it could be limiting their comfort by confining them to a label that they do not feel fits them.

The situation is difficult. The process to combine the two current classes would take more than just a change in offerings. However, even though the process will not be instantaneous, it is necessary to begin it as soon as possible.