Dartmouth students live in a blizzard of hail for most of Fall, Winter, and Spring. Sophomore Summer is a time to actually enjoy the outdoors. Hiking has never before been so easy. Canoeing has never before been an option. For many students, taking a PE class is the best way to get outdoors. The possibilities were mesmerizing: Whitewater Kayaking and Sailing offered to show you that rivers are not necessarily made of ice, and Yoga and Pilates provided the option for you to discover your muscles. However, as the term progressed, students became more and more vulnerable to laziness. By mid-summer, rampant cheating became a widespread phenomenon in Dartmouth PE classes.

Notable PE instructor Sue Darling, known for her intense workouts, deplores that Dartmouth students do not put forth the same effort in their PE classes as they do in their academic classes. She lamented, "People here cheat at health more than anything else." Darling believes homework in gym is necessary. However, she feels "lucky if only five percent actually do it." Throughout all her past and present kickboxing classes, no Dartmouth student has correctly executed a particular kickboxing move that she assigns as homework without fudging it. Yet, there is no punishment for cheating in PE. Unfortunately, a one-time cheater who performs an negligent kickboxing move in PE class now is likely to reiterate his or her cheating pattern in the future. It is only inevitable that a student who violates rules now will disobey the CEO of his or her hedge fund in just a few years.

During Spring 2008, the Dartmouth Honor Education Committee provided to students a user-friendly tool: an online anonymous reporting system of honor code violations. While academic professors are likely to be notified of the reported secretive reconnaissance, students do not currently have the opportunity to report anonymously and "describe... fully--what you saw, when it happened, what you were doing, what type of violation, etc" breaches of conduct in their PE classes. It is possible that PE teachers too would relish the classified intelligence that an anonymous reporting system proffers. However, a report that a fellow student did not run around the track in PE class as many times as he or she claimed is not exciting information for Dartmouth Honor Education Committee board members. After all, academic classes are the only classes factored into one's GPA.

Cannon Biggs '10 is one student who opposed the proposal to implement harsh punishments for those who cheat in PE. She said that if people cheat, "they're only cheating themselves of a more toned body. So I don't think they should get punished." She thought, "If punishments were implemented for cheating in PE classes, Dartmouth would be like military school. And that would be kinda scary." A school with strict punishments for disorderly occurrences would be a scary place indeed.

When another '10 was cross-examined as to whether she ever cheated gym class, she said, "No, because when I can't do anymore it means I'm exhausted." Upon further ruthless interrogation, however, she revealed, "I guess sometimes I don't do as many push-ups as I'm supposed to."

Students seem to feel that they are not held to a strict standard in gym because PE classes allot only "pass" or "fail" grades. One eagle-eyed disciple witnessed, "As soon as the PE instructor's eyes are off the whole classroom and zoned in on one person, people tend to kinda.. slack. But when the instructor turns around, they all perk up and get back into it."

Still, others appreciate the lack of a life-and-death grading system in PE classes. One '10 commented, "I like that I don't get tested.. so I can push myself to go at my own pace." Very important scientific research shows that the low stress of PE is why students have fun in PE classes. Perhaps this laid-back approach - by which students push themselves to reach personal goals - could be functional in the academic arena. The student who doesn't like getting tested all the time continued her unthinkable thinking; "I think people would like academic classes more and learn more if they were just doing something for themselves and not for their parents or some future job."

Academic classes are viewed as "real" classes, and PE classes are extracurricular activities. When it comes down to it, though, every Dartmouth student must pass three PE classes in order to graduate from college with a lawfully printed diploma. Therefore, PE classes should terminate their flexibility that permits students to aim for personal goals and move to align with the superior philosophy of academic classes. A Dartmouth diploma is an indication of personal strife in fulfillment of lofty professorial expectations. In order to save Dartmouth's reputation, an anonymous reporting system for PE classes must be implemented. It would be a cost-effective and labor-saving way to decide if a targeted student ought to receive a constitutionally legitimate PE credit. In the meantime, however, the palpable absence of an anonymous reporting system for extracurricular activities indicates that cheating is likely to continue.