| "I agree that in many public CA high schools (ours included), P.E. is a joke. When I drive by the campus, usually what I see is groups of kids walking as slowly as possible around the track. There does not seem to be any pride in performance for P.E., unlike most other classes. I wonder how that attitude came about and how it can be changed?"
The benefits of PE are getting the student's heart rate going, not in having them learn to play games that won't become lifetime fitness habits. I read once that only 4% of American adults stay fit through team sports (basketball, soccer, etc.). Yet the mainstays of PE class were indeed basketball, soccer, volleyball, etc. Plus - they were conducted with NO instruction. Here kids, pick teams, here's a ball, go play. No coaching on how to actually do the skills involved. So, what happened? The naturally athletic kids hogged the ball, and the non-athletic kids stayed away and just hoped like hell not to be near the ball. If it was dodgeball, so much the better - get hit, and the whole thing is over.
Adults stay fit through individual workouts for the most part - walking, jogging / running, working out on machines, etc., or with group exercise classes that aren't competitive and don't involve winners and losers. I think there should be an option to just have a kid go to an aerobics-type class for the first hour of the day; he gets his cardio benefit, over and done. Or, walk / jog or work out on machines, and make the competition be with YOURSELF. Improve your mile from this to that; lift X more weights at the end of the year than the beginning of the year. |