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CELPIP Practice Reading: Reading for Viewpoints ID: #63224 Medium Esports Belongs on the Transcript, Not in the Gym

Read the following opinion column from a website.

I believe school esports teams deserve a place on the transcript, and I believe just as firmly that the place is not the gym credit. Our school board is asking whether hours in competitive video game leagues could count toward the physical activity credit every student must earn before graduation. The idea comes from good intentions, but it mixes up two different goods, and I think trustees should keep them apart.

Aiden Bilodeau, who coaches esports at a Surrey high school, argues that credit would simply recognize discipline that already happens after the last bell. His players keep practice logs, follow a code against abusive chat and must hold a minimum grade average to compete. He told trustees that several students who used to skip gym now come to school every day because of the team. Gemma Khoury, who heads a physical education department, argues the opposite case. She says national surveys already show young people moving less each year, and swapping ranked matches for movement would make that worse. She would accept a technology elective, but she insists that any credit called physical education must still record real minutes of activity.

Arjun Sekhon, a guidance counsellor, points out that not everyone could take part. Without laptops lent by the district and decent internet at home, he says, the credit would reward students whose families already own expensive gaming computers. He supports an esports elective only if the board pays for an equipment library before any transcript changes, and I find his point hard to answer. Linnea Paquette, who studies children’s health at a university hospital, wants clear rules on sleep and posture for every team. She says she would back the program only if students can leave it when gaming starts to hurt their grades. She respects what the teams teach, yet she shares Khoury’s bottom line: no amount of gaming should count as exercise.

My view grew partly out of my nephew’s story. Two years ago he was the boy who hid in the library during gym, and the esports club first made him proud of his school. I would give him an elective credit for that without a second thought. But he also needs to run, stretch and sweat, and a credit that lets him skip all of that would do him no favours. Trustees should create an esports elective with Sekhon’s equipment library in place and leave the gym credit where it is. Fiona Szabo writes on education every second Wednesday.

Using the drop-down menu (▾), choose the best option according to the information given on the website.

This column is mainly about 1.
.

Who most clearly worries that the credit would favour students from wealthier homes? 2.
.

Gemma Khoury’s position would most likely be supported by 3.
.

What outcome does Linnea Paquette’s condition call for? 4.
.

The columnist’s attitude toward esports credit is best described as 5.
.

The following is a comment by a visitor to the website page. Complete the comment by choosing the best option to fill in each blank.

I coach girls’ volleyball at a middle school, so I expected to disagree with every word of this column, and I was wrong about that. The esports coach says his players must keep 6.
 to compete, which is a stricter rule than some of my own teams follow. I was also surprised that even the head of physical education would accept 7.
, since she clearly cares so much about keeping students moving. The guidance counsellor wants 8.
 before any transcript changes, and that seems fair to the families I work with. Linnea Paquette also asks for clear rules on 9.
 for every team, and I would add those to my own practices tomorrow. Your nephew, who once 10.
, is the best argument in the whole column, and I hope the trustees read about him.

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