Phys ed is one of the best parts of school. That and lunch time. If school was all about sitting on your butt listening to your teacher blabber, that'd be friggin hell. I sucked at physical education in school by the way and I still was glad we had it and got to run around. I say it's important, not for obesity, per se, but because kids and teens are in their developmental years and if they're just sitting on their butts, they're going to make their life a serious habit of sitting on their butts. Plus, the ability to do run well by controlling your breathing and getting it adapted is a learned thing. If we didn't have mandatory running (well, my schools had it once a month, at least) to train us, I'd think running would be a good way to kill myself. Plus, the kids might like phys ed so much they'll join after school sports... which is always better than them getting bored and doing drugs or having sex or some crap.