Letters | Why Hong Kong schools should reward students for doing exercise
- In fast-paced, materialistic Hong Kong, students may not be inspired to devote time to regular exercise without the promise of some reward
On joining the scheme, students were expected to participate in activities grouped under seven areas of development: spiritual, intellectual, physical, social, aesthetic, career and emotional. There were three classes of awards – Achievement, Advanced Achievement, and Excellence – depending on the number of points a student earned, as well as a reflection essay and a book report. When I graduated, I achieved the Excellence Award. This scheme is still in place today.
I suggest that when teachers prescribe physical exercise as homework for students, in order to make it more attractive, as long as the daily log is keyed in, perhaps the physical exercise for that day should be counted as part of the overall total score for the subject PE for that semester, if not for the whole academic school year.
Better still, if students join sports teams or clubs, and do fitness-related activities outside school hours and during the weekends, that should also be counted as part of the overall scores for the PE subject as well.
