Fail Fitness Test, Take PE Again

[Pizzagirl]

And dodgeball - the perfect opportunity to let the ball hit you and then you're out. Can you imagine if anything else was taught like that? Imagine the kid who's not good in math. "Here, if you don't know how to add 1+1 and get to 2, just drop out and you won't have to do it anymore." LOL. What were they thinking??

Anecdotally, my personal trainer tells me he has tons of women in the late 30's / early 40's who have the same thing -- gym classes put them off athletics, and he has to retrain them into believing you don't have to a be a jock to enjoy jogging, working out, strength training, etc.

[missypie]

I've read so many times that dodgeball is about the worst PE class activity, for the reasons you stated....yet, they're still playing it.

I think that the folks on CC are generally quite supportive of teachers in general. But don't EVEN get me started on the PE teachers who collect a salary year after year by having kids play dodgeball every day.

[ye sheng mei]

I'd be all for a PE requirement. I LOVED P.E. I get bored easily and exercising with a big group was so much more fun than doing it on my own. Running a mile or 10 by myself bores me to tears, but when I used to run with the guys it became a race and I ran several miles around the 6min mark. That is never repeated when I'm on my own.

I also enjoyed the team sports, such as soccer, football (we all got to play) basketball etc and game like capture the flag. And I particularly liked being the first girl all the guys picked to play. I'd take PE again in a second! Way more fun that most of my other classes were.

And I thought Dodge-ball was pretty cool. You got to take out all your aggressions with rubber balls. :P We used to have to split up into two games though- those who would play rough and those who wouldn't.

PE was always the highlight of my day along with English.

[missypie]

ye sheng mei, I HATED people like you in school....why should kids take out their agressions with rubber balls on skinny little kids like I was???? In a required class, no less.....

[OaksMom]

California experience here...kids in our district have PE starting in middle school. There are PE requiements for HS as well. these classes are taught by credentialed PE teachers.

As for the elementary kids in our district there is PE if the principal has found the money to support a program (often one run by parents who have had no training in PE whatsoever but they may have coached a AYSO team at one time or another). These 'specialists' as they are called are paid nominally...again, no credentialing whatsoever. I must disagree with threedrummers...when I began my credential program at a CSU (circa 1988) there was a PE requirement for all teacher candidates. The excuse (via the principal) for not having our elementary classroom teachers teach PE in my local public school is that it is "a hassle for the teachers to have to change their shoes and dress accordingly"...so the kids at our local school continue to do without the State of California required PE standards of x number of minutes every 2 weeks of school. It is a disgrace, the standards are available on the web and yet there is no public outrage that our kids are being shortchanged. Kids have physical skills that are important to their development just as mental/verbal/mathmatical/analytical skills are important. Just needed to vent!

[katliamom]

Another California experience here: our high school had a smim test students had to pass in order to graduate. The theory made sense: swimming is a necessary skill that can save your life. The practice however was something else, as our high school attracted a huge percentage of students from Vietnam (we're talking early-mid 70's.) Many of these kids didn't learn to swim as children.

I'll never forget watching a lovely young woman come in extra early three-four times a week for her private swimming lesson with a girl from the school swim team. This student - a senior - was one of the top students in the school, and had been admitted ED to Stanford. However, the school was threatening not to graduate her since she hadn't passed the swim test. This senior did everything she could to swim. I watched her practice, listen to directions, try and try and try again. All with the same result: first her feet and then her legs would slowly sink -- then her bottom and finally her torso, all despite her very energetic efforts to the contrary. She. Just. Couldn't. Do. It. Later I found out the school took pity on her, and waived the requirement.

[BunsenBurner]

The thing that makes me rabidly angry is the habit of weighing students in front of others and then providing to parents a BMI and nutrition report. I told my daughter that she is not to participate in that again and the school can call me and hear from me exactly why. Aside from the fact that her weight is none of their damn business and I can quite well parent my own child.

ZM, they've got to be kidding!!! What are they thinking? With eating disorders so rampant among teenagers, this is akin to pouring gasoline on fire!

[1of42]

Unfortunately the most prevalent eating disorder currently plaguing America is not anorexia, it's obesity.

While I think that weighing kids in front of a class is unjustified and potentially dangerous to their mental health, I have no problem with some kind of private weighing and personal health report with suggestions for improving health being part of PE. There are a great many parents in America who feed their children crap and are obese themselves, and it's causing a horrible obesity epidemic. Sometimes, they need to be informed.

[ye sheng mei]

Missypie- sorry, that was miss-worded on my part. We did NOT take it out on random people. Mostly I was joking, or if we were rough, it was ONLY with close friends who could take it. Apologies.

[HisGraceFillsMe]

While I think that weighing kids in front of a class is unjustified and potentially dangerous to their mental health, I have no problem with some kind of private weighing and personal health report with suggestions for improving health being part of PE. There are a great many parents in America who feed their children crap and are obese themselves, and it's causing a horrible obesity epidemic. Sometimes, they need to be informed.

You don't think private weighing can be just as dangerous?

Lemme tell you something. When I was in middle school, the school nurse called me in, proceeded to weigh me, then hand me a pamphlet and tell me I needed to go to "fat camp" this summer. She did this to every single kid in my class who was over a certain weight, and let me tell you, none of us benefited from it one bit.

The next time I got sick at school, she asked my mother to stay behind when I went out to get in the car to go home. My mom, thinking she wanted to talk about my illness, stayed. Instead, the lady asked why no action had been taken about sending me to said "fat camp". My mom was shocked that the school NURSE was being so insensitive, and promptly left and took me home, but the damage was done. I had been ridiculed enough by my own peers to already have a fragile self-image, and now I was getting the same crap from ADULTS. I ended up in therapy for YEARS because of my screwed-up body image.

How much I weigh or whether or not I'm physically fit is none of my SCHOOL'S business. The whole point of school is for INTELLECTUAL improvement, is it not?

Now let me point out, it's not like I'm sitting at home doing nothing. I am on Weight Watchers, and I have lost almost 30 pounds. I eat better now than I have in my whole life (I do eat junk food once in a while, but it's not nearly as much as I used to, and when I do go get fast food I make much better choices than a burger and fries).

Leave the poor kids alone. Yes, it's important to be physically healthy. But let a doctor who knows how to be sensitive to the emotional trauma the subject can cause educate them...not some school nurse who thinks the only solution is to send us all to fat camp.

[Bay]

HGFM,

I agree that your treatment was just wrong. I wonder though, whether you think better P.E. classes might have helped you along the way. 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?

[RacinReaver]

The whole point of school is for INTELLECTUAL improvement, is it not?

It's not solely for intellectual improvement. I found wood shop, home economics (cooking, sewing, balancing a budget) to be some of the most useful classes I had while in school. You can't do any damage studying Shakespeare on your free time, but it's sure not that difficult to cause serious bodily harm using a circular saw or an extremely sharp knife without proper knowledge of how to handle them.

[HisGraceFillsMe]

Bay-I'm sure they would have.

When I do things like play volleyball at the beach with my friends or even just take a bike ride around the block (which we don't do as often anymore because people have moved and such), I have a great time. When we walk around the park, I have an awesome time. I walked my dog with my friends a few times...we had great fun.

I think the problem is that they take the fun aspect out of it by making it all about grades...if you're not athletic, you don't get a good grade (hence why I took golf...the coach was great that as long as we showed up and we tried, we got an A...he was one of the best PE teachers I ever had).

RacinReaver-very good point. I rescind that statement.

[hops_scout]

if you're not athletic, you don't get a good grade

Apply that to any of your classes! If you're not smart, you probably won't get a good grade. If you don't try, you probably won't get a good grade. Take your pick

[HisGraceFillsMe]

Honestly (and sadly enough), intelligence has very little to do with high school grades. I get good grades (along with most of my class) because I turn in my work on time, and by doing the homework I remember the concepts well enough to do well on the tests.