Comments on: Gym Class Chronicles

By: EricBrandom

EricBrandom — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 16:48:59 +0000

Gym class, for me, not that long ago, was far and away my favorite class. I had the opportunity to opt out of gym because of sports, but I never did. It also helped that my school (public, might I add) held six sections of gym per school year. Two sections for each season with the opportunity to pick your choice between things like, soccer, fitness, yoga, floor hockey, badminton and the like. It worked at our school and still works (my younger brother is a freshman). Why other schools don’t model after this I won’t ever understand. I figure it’s a money issue, but then again, I’m obviously not the brightest buld

By: Amy

Amy — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 21:27:55 +0000

I also side with Chicken Girl, Migraineur, and Jerry on this point. Looking back to my elementary/junior high/high school years (just 4 years ago!) I have to say that P.E. was by far the worst part of school. I remember dreading the days I had class since it was likely I would either get hit with a ball, get picked last, or just be uncoordinated and laughed at. Throughout these years I hated any sort of physical activity just because I thought I was horrible at it. However, in high school, my school district formed a crew team and I finally found something that I was good at. This led to long-distance running and triathlons, and now I can say I am an athlete.

I think what schools need to do is find physical activities that kids are willing to participate in, even if this just means giving more recess. The standard football or kickball isn’t going to do much of a difference for the overweight or uncoordinated kids regardless if P.E. is required again.

By: Kaitlin

Kaitlin — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:44:46 +0000

When I was in high school, our district was experimenting with block scheduling–instead of 45-minute class sessions, they were twice that length. I had a phys ed class every year until I was a junior, and those last two years were hell . . . not just because it was degrading and embarrassing, but because it was *interminable*.

Often the instructors only chose one activity for the entire period, and it was almost always dodge ball (ouch) or “mat ball”. Think kick ball but (if this is conceivable) even less fun. Instead of running the bases and ending at home base, you continued running until there were three outs. The bases were huge mats and there would be about ten people on them at a time. It was so easy to get an out by throwing the ball into a group of people that the most exercise anyone really got was moving from kicking to playing outfield, and vice versa.

I hated it and still, perhaps irrationally, despise team sports–I can barely stay awake to watch them, much less play them. But I love lifting weights, something we did only once (untaught and unsupervised) in phys ed.

I guess all that happened in 1997 and 1998. It was such a joke and set me against physical activity for a long, long time. But surprise, it can be pleasant.

By: Marie

Marie — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 13:08:56 +0000

The problem w. PE is the same problem w. modern life: we should have physical activity built in to our daily lives rather than having to do a “separate” activity for fitness. But, since most of us aren’t going back to chopping wood or churning butter any time soon, I guess there should be some good PE programs…hope they’re better than what I had though.

By: Sonagi

Sonagi — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 18:03:35 +0000

think physical activity is important but I vote for either outdoor play time like recess or giving kids choices in gym class so that they might actually find something they enjoy.

Limited choices in gym class, yes. More recess, no. The problem with recess is that the least fit kids tend to move the least. They’ll run around the first five minutes, get pooped, and sit around for the rest of recess. Some structure and supervision keeps the kids active. Besides a great PE program, my school also sponsors before and after school PE activities that are very well attended by our students. It’s voluntary, and the students have choices.

My third grader son’s gym teacher is also giving terrible dietary advice. My son comes home asking why I serve butter, whole milk, red meat (grass fed), not very much bread/grains, etc. because his gym teacher says something entirely different. Argh!

I’m so glad I do not teach nutrition because I would have serious ethical problems promoting the official USDA pyramid with grains on the bottom and milk as a daily staple.

By: Anna

Anna — Sun, 23 Mar 2008 14:48:29 +0000

Of course, my son’s gym program emphasis is on running, for the “cardiovascular” benefit (probably also because it requires no equipment to purchase, store, or move around - there is no “gym” room but being in So Cal that isn’t much of a problem. I would much rather they spent gym time doing strength building and coordination exercises, than pounding their joints. My third grader son’s gym teacher is also giving terrible dietary advice. My son comes home asking why I serve butter, whole milk, red meat (grass fed), not very much bread/grains, etc. because his gym teacher says something entirely different. Argh!