Returning to school after being gone for several days can be stressful; you may have multiple tests and quizzes to make up, not to mention homework from nearly every class from every day that you missed. All of this can make missing school miserable. Add in a P.E. class to make up — or two, if you’re like me — and your short sickness, vacation or family emergency can result in insurmountable stress and, ultimately, regret.

Recently, my family took a trip to California to visit family and tour my dream school, Pepperdine University. Upon my return, I wasn’t surprised to see low grades in many of my classes, especially in Team Sports and Lifetime Sports. I was surprised, however, to find that my college visit would not excuse me from making up the three gym classes that I missed.

Normally I wouldn’t bother doing make-ups, but my grade in Lifetime Sports had dropped to a low C. So, I bit the bullet and went to a P.E. make-up session, and though I would consider myself to be in pretty good shape, it was a lot more work and a lot harder than I expected. Rather than simply having to make up the two days worth of the speed walking unit that I had missed, I had to complete a workout that would put some aspects of soccer coach Arlan Vomhof’s famous “Fitness Fridays” to shame.

I understand that in some gym classes, that intensity and level of rigor could be present. However, this cannot be said about the class that I missed, and I strongly believe that some major reform is needed where P.E. make-ups are concerned.

While I realize that in the grand scheme of things, doing two or three make ups wouldn’t kill you and is inarguably beneficial. However, I think that there are more important things to be done with student’s time after coming back to school, especially from a sickness or family emergency. We need more time to relax, recover and get caught up in core classes  — and the added pressure of completing a make-up in time does not fit into that necessity.