Writer's Block: Sweat it out

[mdlbear]

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Hell fscking no! Of all the things I loathed in school, and there were quite a few for a shy, geeky, fat kid who was constantly teased, PE was the most loathsome.

Comments

[ranch101.livejournal.com]

I nearly failed PE in high school. Why? I had it last period and lived less than a block from the school. I went home to shower. That was, aparently, unacceptable and they required me to (a) start showering in school and (b) do a bunch of extra credit crap.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

This is a curiosity question, that ties into the thinky thoughts I'm having about this question.

Does your answer change if mandatory physical education does not have the same practical definition of what we went through -- namely enforced competitive team sports?

Say, for example, that physical education consisted of things like yoga or other individual activities. Does that make a difference for you?

[mdlbear]

Yes, maybe. When I had the option, in college, of going out and jogging or lifting weights, I took it. I found it highly embarrassing to ask for those options; they weren't common.

I was interested in yoga in high school. I still try to go for walks when I can. Competition in general is something I've always avoided. Exercise machines, weights, jogging around the track, and other pointless activities were and still are boring.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

For me it's a maybe also. When I first saw the question, I immediately thought yes, yes, of course fitness should be mandatory -- but not PE. PE is repellant, and useless. I firmly believe that competitive sports should be a voluntary extracurricular activity.

On the other hand...looking back at elementary and high school, it's hard to think even individual activities such as yoga or jogging could be made safe from mockery and bullying.

And on the other other hand, so many kids have no opportunity for extracurricular activities at all, and so many people do like team sports, and PE is where they learn that.

I guess in the end I'm mostly surprised to realize that this is a question I have to think about for longer.

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

Exactly. I'd like to see things which focused a lot more on the education and a lot less on running mindless laps or participating in carnivals.

I bought myself an F in high school PE because I told the teacher that his class was inconsistent and effectively useless, so I would be spending all future PE periods in the library where I might actually be able to contribute something worthwhile to my future. And walked away.

Funnily enough, I've never been turned away from university courses or jobs because I got an F in PE. Even my parents (both teachers) did nothing when I told them about the incident and my reasoning behind it that same evening.

And for the rest of my high school career, I never had to talk to that particular PE teacher every again, or jog around another oval.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

Well, running laps is the sort of individual, solitary activity I would view as potentially useful, given that walking and jogging are among the cheapest, simplest forms of good cardiovascular exercise.

However, I would never argue that the average PE class isn't inconsistent and effectively useless, and it's not so much "running laps" I'm in favor of as "learning how to go out and move".

After all, even most of the walkers/runners/joggers I know don't seem to find repetitive laps particularly inspiring...

[the-s-guy.livejournal.com]

I think what annoyed me most was that running laps was something I could just as easily have done outside school hours, if so inclined. It requires no specialist equipment or training. I'd like PE to be merged with Health/Nutrition classes so that you get the explanation of why it's a good idea to exercise a given muscle group, followed by actually doing a bunch of exercises for that group. Heck, merge it again with the Cooking segments of Home Ec so you get the theory on what certain food groups can do and then get to make and eat them.

Likewise, sport which needs equipment isn't a bad idea. Not every kid can afford an entire sports department of gear. But there's no point in sending a class out to play chasey or tennis-ball-tag; they can do that anywhere and any time.

As with any subject, I'd like to see more options than simply team sports or running around the gym, but I know that not everywhere can afford or drum up the numbers to justify instructors in twenty different disciplines.

I think what annoyed me most about PE as a child was that I viewed it as an interloper in my educational day. No other class required that I change clothes, get sweaty, or be forced to run around in unwanted teams doing unwanted things for (apparently) completely useless outcomes. No other classes were linked with annoying carnivals and competitions which sucked hours or days away from productive work. It was an irritating intrusion in my quiet academic life.

School was for sitting at desks and learning, yes? Every other subject managed to do this - PE was just a monstrous aberration that left me feeling tired, shaken, and sweaty for the rest of the day. How could this possibly be part of an education system?

At the time I put it down to a combination of Australia's stereotypical love of sports, plus an education system inherited from the Brits which (from my literary investigations) seemed to have near-universally-hated-PE simply because they'd always had it.

I wanted something different

[capplor.livejournal.com]

One and only one semester, I got to do 'individual study" in PE. I was working on gymnastics. I was lousy but by the end of the 6 week period I could do a cartwheel. Another semester I lost out on (because I had some advanced science classes) they were doing square dance.

I would like PE to be some excuse to move (giving the more roudy boys who were teasing me mercilessly some OTHER outlet for their energy) and an opportunity to develop healthy habits and/or hobbies for a lifetime. Optional dance would be a GREAT PE course and wonderful exercise.

Of course, this would require a PE teacher who knows enough to be safe about many different activities.

[elf]

I'd have a lot more tolerance for PE in schools if it were treated like other subjects--something some kids will excel at, and others should be led through the basics to get competent to their level of ability. If they sorted the athletes into different classes from the bookworms, I could accept it as "everyone needs some exercise, and some understanding of popular sports just like every other aspect of popular culture," instead of "here's the space for the thick-headed bullies to own the 'classroom,' and you nerdy types can be harassed openly, with teacher participation."

They don't throw 30 kids at random in to math classes because not everyone has the same aptitude for it. The should arrange PE the same way; if they have to put the kids together (like they often do for elementary/middle-school academics), they could at least acknowledge that differences in ability and interest are going to affect participation.

As long as they're not willing to do that, we're stuck with state-mandated PE (it's in the education code) and classes that are "graded" on showing up and not annoying the teacher, rather than anything related to physical activity.

[judifilksign.livejournal.com]

Several years ago now, when I taught a group of troubled deaf teens all day, every day, we alternated six week grading periods between Art and Gym.

I noted that in Gym grading periods, my students' academics went up by a grade level or higher (we had gym class first period.) I would join the Phys. Ed. teacher and we would co-teach the class.

Not only did we do traditional group games like volleyball, basketball and kickball, but also fitness stuff like stretches, laps, and practicing skills drills like dribbling, passing, etc.

A large part of the class was training these students in how to interact appropriately during game time. Many games stopped to have a discussion on how to handle ourselves. In fact, sometimes we deliberately had provoking games such as dodgeball to better enforce rules and boundaries (which sounds counterintuitive, but worked better than you think. And I was a major target in dodgeball, because when else can a student smear a ball at top speed to hit the teacher and it be okay? I got very good at dodging, but never at throwing back.)

Grading was based on participation, attitude in class (also known as sportsmanship) and becoming more proficient in skills.

[mdlbear]

Good point. I'm told that PE isn't necessarily the way I remember it. Teasing and bullying were more tolerated half a century ago, too.

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

I absolutely loathed PE from grades 1 through 12, didn't go out for sports because I associated them with the gym and locker room, went as far as digging in my heels and concluding that you had to choose between having a high performance body or a high performance brain, since the coaches and PE teachers and most of the school jocks were so clearly STUPID.

Probably slammed several open doors shut because my PE experience was so viscerally bad.

Then, halfway through my first year in college, I fell in love with the fitness center, read the Joe Weider magazines and wanted a body like Frank Zane. Hated the times between semesters when I didn't have access to the equipment, and took up running around the reservoir when I went home. And I still feel the waves of disgust when I think about dodgeball or badminton or when I go to some event that takes place in a school gym.

I'd like to see physical activity encouraged in schools, but they're doing it SO wrong. My experience was that they'd tell everyone to go play a competitive team sport for the period, not show you how to play it well, and leave you on your own for the bullies to make fun of and taunt other kids. The only feedback I ever got from a PE teacher was, "You missed the ball! You're not trying!" I learned weightlifting form from the Weider magazines, not from anything any PE teacher showed me how to do. In fact, I don't think I ever saw a free weight in school during my entire secondary education.

How about instruction on improving your game? How about individual performance activities like track/field? How about workout classes that build strength and cardio?

The fact that it was mandatory pretty much intensified my experience of sports as a hell I'd go to great lengths to escape.

[mdlbear]

Yeah, that. I enjoyed fencing, when I took it for a year in grad school, but that and cycling wrecked my knees. Nobody ever taught me how to be physically active without getting seriously injured.