Physical Education in Public Schools

[shirlene29]

whelp, my primary criteria in house shopping is the school system

Ive only looked at towns where the schools score in the top 10% minimum for SAT's and have broad extracurricular activities

this isn't very hard to do in this state tho...but some of the stats surprised me


the town I posted previously makes top 4% scores in the nation, and has more stuff than whats on their calender....they also have a fine arts program thats pretty amazing

as a parent I want schools to do THEIR job and let me do mine

but yeah, a lot of parents are apathetic and too self absorbed to realize raising their children is the most important job they have

 

[redshirt27se]

PE was legit when I was in school. We played every sport depending on season, and you got to pick from several different PEs.. i.e. weight training, traditional sports, life time sports, etc.


and we had a JV team and freshman team for every sport.. maybe you just went to a shitty school.

 

[trex74]

My elementary school was good for physical education. We had a yearly Canada Fitness awards where you had to do all sorts of fitness tests (endurance running, situps, shuttle run, flexed arm hang etc.) and you got badges according to your fitness level. Everyone wanted a gold, so everyone tried really hard.
The CANADIAN DESIGN RESOURCE Canada Fitness Award badges

I remember there weren't very many fat kids in elementary school. There was a kid who was a big bully, and another one whose dad owned the corner store and gave him candy whenever he wanted, and uh, I think that's it.
I think that part of it was that our parents told us to not come home till dinner, and after dinner we were out playing all the time too.
Junior high there was an emphasis on physical education too, because we were a "jock" school. We won everything, largely because of Project 4000. We had a huge influx of Vietnamese/Cambodian people (4000) who came to Ottawa in the late 70's as refugees, and their kids were exceptional athletes who happened to all end up in my school.
I think P.E. is definitely a school issue, because kids are IN school for 8 hours a day or so. You gotta give them something physical to do to burn off energy.

 

[shirlene29]

yeah...I remember the days of being told to come home when the street lights came on

man I wish I felt safe lettin my kids do that

 

[trex74]

yeah...I remember the days of being told to come home when the street lights came on

man I wish I felt safe lettin my kids do that

It's a different world now...
I remember falling out of trees, having huge permanent scabs on my knees from rollerskating/falling off my bike, taking huge tumbles from the playground structures, trying to walk on fences, and generally getting many scrapes and bruises just being a kid.

 

[hurricane]

PE was legit when I was in school. We played every sport depending on season, and you got to pick from several different PEs.. i.e. weight training, traditional sports, life time sports, etc.


and we had a JV team and freshman team for every sport.. maybe you just went to a shitty school.

lol

 

[redshirt27se]

yeah...I remember the days of being told to come home when the street lights came on

man I wish I felt safe lettin my kids do that

move outta the hood then.


people don't even lock their doors around here.

 

[timtim]

I'm only talking phys-ed on this thread. Since our phys-ed has failed, it needs to be fixed. We could start hiring certified trainers to teach the classes. Give the students cardio and muscle building exercises. We could make it a requirement to take phys-ed daily throughout the entire school year. As I said, we could offer more after school sports for those that want to play but can't make the varsity teams.

I remember one sad incident when I was in Jr. High school. One of my friends weighed 350 lbs. Once a year we were required to run a mile. That was the only intense exercise we ever did and that was only once per year. Anyway, my 350 lb. friend was obviously not capable of running or jogging a mile. He could have just said "fuck you" and not done anything but instead he tried walking the distance. The gym teacher yelled at him and ridiculed him in front of the class. By the time all of the other kids had finished their mile run, he was only half way through walking. The teacher told him that he might as well be picking his nose and told him to quit.

If I were the teacher I would have told him to walk the best he could and advised him to start his own exercise program of walking and gradually build up to jogging. Maybe pass out some workout ideas from Men's Fitness or something. The point being is that he should have been taught that walking is acceptable exercise to start out and he should have been encouraged and EDUCATED on how to lose the weight. Aren't teachers there to educate whether it's phys-ed or chemistry? Instead the teacher didn't give a shit. Then later we were supposed to do chin ups. Of course he could not do one. A lot of kids could not do one. I would have brought out some free weights and had these kids start doing curls and lat rows with a weight that they could handle. Then they could build up their upper body strength to the point of being able to do a chin up. My friend was ridiculed again by the teacher. This kid had an IQ of 150 and was in the Talented and Gifted program. He ended up dropping out of Jr. High because he couldn't handle the ridicule by the teacher of the gym class. That's just wrong.

public schools have zero money to waste. when kids are losing art, music, before/after school programs, gym takes a huge backseat. seriously, how out of the loop must you be to realize how poorly funded our public schools are? read a newpaper every now and then.

you: "give us certified trainers to teach gym class!"

teacher: "please, please, please can we get new books for the first time since 1983? and maybe some pens/pencils/paper for the kids to write on? pretty please?"

 

[redshirt27se]

LOL @ blaming phys ed for poor parenting.

 

[ceo]

public schools have zero money to waste. when kids are losing art, music, before/after school programs, gym takes a huge backseat. seriously, how out of the loop must you be to realize how poorly funded our public schools are? read a newpaper every now and then.

you: "give us certified trainers to teach gym class!"

teacher: "please, please, please can we get new books for the first time since 1983? and maybe some pens/pencils/paper for the kids to write on? pretty please?"

Ah but those adminstrators sure do get paid well don't they? Raises every year too! Top heavy...just like all other gov't institutions. Let's not forget that all the money that is supposed to be earmarked for schools (including most state lotteries) usually just make it to the general fund, where it is wasted into oblivion.

I mean those senators, congresspeople, mayors, etc., etc. have to get paid well and get their raises and benefits and huge expense accounts don't they? How else could they do their jobs without expensing high priced meals, trips, clothes, haircuts, and everything else they can possibly not need?

I should've been a senator.