Fail Fitness Test, Take PE Again

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HGFM: Yes, that is unfortunate. However, I would bet you a very large sum of money that the number of children who know they are overweight and are working actively to fix it is significantly smaller than the number of children, often from low-income families, whose parents feed them crappy food, use the television as a caregiver, and never teach them proper eating habits.

Originally Posted by HisGraceFillsMe

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?

In an ideal world schools should have nothing to do with health, with fitness, any of that. But we're not in an ideal world, and the continuing increase in obesity requires that action be taken in other venues than the home, because clearly there's not enough happening there.

[trojanchick99]

In my district, we had PE from middle school. I learned fast that it sucked, so I did sports. Volleyball, soccer, basketball, softball in junior high and swimming a d water polo in high school. Funny thing I don't know if I would have passed a running test. I was in great shape but I hated to run. I like the idea of making kids take PE, but only if the curriculum is good.

[collegemom16]

I think for highschool it should be a mile run or a mile swim, within a specified time frame, student's choice. I think all this hooey about needing big PE budgets in elementary school is bogus. Run everyday, it is that simple. Do some warmup stretches first. Everyone has a pair of running shoes on site, play some loud music and everyone runs. It would benefit many teachers to join in. If the weather is bad run in the gym.

[Pizzagirl]

"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.