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Writer's Block: Sweat it out
2011-Feb-23, Wednesday 00:34[Error: unknown template qotd]
When I was in school I thought it sucked ass to be required to take PE. However, it had more to do with the nature of the class than the fact it was required. Instead of being what was intended by the class, which was to get children to be more active and physically fit, it had started to pretend to be some kind of actual educational experience. We would have to learn a bunch of crap about various sports and then take tests? on the rules of basketball? Seems to me that learning to play a sport is the physical part. who cares if you can remember the rules enough to take a test on it at the end of that segment playing outside of gym class?
Funny thing is that now, with American children just getting fatter and fatter, I do think that some form of PE should be mandatory all the way through high school and maybe also in college. When I was in school, plenty of kids were in rotten shape, but there were generally in my class of approximately 525 students only five or six girls who were significantly overweight, and only maybe MAYBE two who were morbidly obese. When I was in elementary school there was only ONE girl and ONE boy who were heavy, and both of them were still capable of decent levels of activities, and perfectly capable of running and playing games with the other kids. Now, I see kids at the elementary school level and see that at least half of them are fat. FAT. and probably a quarter of them are Obese and morbidly Obese at a very young age. By high school level these kids are really struggling with their bodies and the kind of gym class that they're forced to take by then are nothing but torment and ridicule. That's not helping them. Also, at the elementary level, children need to be exposed to more sports than just dodge ball, and kick ball, and running back and forth. When I was in elementary school that was almost all we ever did... and races... usually weird races. Sometimes we climbed the rope. Most of us couldn't do it, but most of us wanted to try, but it was so rarely an activity, that we weren't ever given much of a chance to get better at it.
Physical Education needs to be EVERY day in elementary school, not once or twice a week like we had it. It should include physical activity, but it should also involve teaching children about proper diet. What to eat and how much to eat. By Junior High Health and PE should start branching off. Instead of forcing children to take one multifunctional class that barely touches on the interests of most children, children need to start having some choices. Even more so in high school. The point is to have physical activity. why force Children to jack around with a bunch of different things they don't enjoy and spend a couple of weeks on each one, so that the two or three sports they really do get into, they only get to do for a short time.
Example 1: I was not into most team sports. It wasn't that I wasn't a team player, and I was physically fitter than most of my contemporaries. however, I was better at and enjoyed more individual sports. I was an avid skater *not practical in the gym maybe, though when my gym teacher ridiculed me for not being good at basketball which I hated and didn't care if I was any good at it, I pointed out that if we learned about roller skating, that I'd run circles around everyone in the class, and could probably teach the class. (I was actually hired to teach a little girl some higher level skating technique like dance steps and jumps when I was about 16)
Example 2: While most of the other students groaned at the twice yearly physical fitness training that we did, I liked doing that. I liked seeing how I progressed during that two week period. I would have gladly traded in everything else to just do physical fitness training every day for an hour instead of learning dumb games I wasn't interested in ever playing. Flag football? Field hockey? (well ok... field hockey wasn't too bad.) Dodge ball? What possible application does dodge ball have other than being a way for some students to legally abuse other students? I can't tell you how many times I witnessed one student being beaned in the face, had glasses broken, knocked down, etc by another student, usually a bully while the gym teacher turned a blind eye, CHEERED the bully for getting the point, or ridiculed the 'loser" or called them a baby for being upset at being bullied by a game that has really no relevance in the real world.
Example 3: I loved the gymnastics and artistic dance segment, and for us that actually was a team activity. You generally worked up a routine with a group of four, and that was pretty cool. Generally speaking, there were certain moves that everyone had to be able to accomplish, and the team members had to work with each other to encourage each other. We had to think about ways to help our teammates get all the moves into the routine, by working out the routine in a way that another teammate was there to spot or assist on a move that one teammate was having trouble with. It was great cooperation, with problem solving to accomplish a goal. I was into that.
Point of these examples is, a lot of others really weren't into the things I was , and it seems silly that they had to waste time on this, and I had to waste time learning basketball and baseball. A lot of the heavy kids would have done much better and probably been a lot happier about the forced physical activity if they'd been given options that worked better for them. For example, a tai chi class, or pilates, coupled with some discussion of proper diet and portion control, would have brought them a long ways into perhaps the following year, taking a more intensive martial arts class, or an aerobics class. What we need here are options. Help children feel good about their bodies by teaching them HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. Do so, by giving them OPTIONS about WHAT their activity is.
When I was in school, we had no aerobics, no martial arts or self defense of any kind (which we definitely should have had), there were extra curricular activities such as a kickline that girls could try out for. It was for the girls who were not of an elite enough social class to have even a remote chance as a cheer leader (no matter how good they were) but even then, there was a try out and if you didn't know the right people, you could forget about it.) This was the case with the majority of the sports after school, and if you were in a sport, you were still forced to take curriculum time to take PE... That's my other gripe. If a child is actively in a sport, they should not be forced to take PE. That includes in school and out of school. If a child is taking a martial arts class two or three days a week, and it's outside of school, they shouldn't be having class time wasted with PE. I guarantee they're getting more physical activity per week those three days than they would in PE running away from bullies at dodge ball or trying throw a ball in a hoop. I'm just saying. I skated sometimes as much as 20 hours a week. Any session I could scrape up the money to go to, get permission and a ride to, I was all over it. Friday night from 7 to 11 then straight on from 11-2, then back to the rink on Saturday for the afternoon session from 1-4, then off to the mall for a couple hours and then back to the rink for Saturday night 7-11 and then 11-2. Then back for the Sunday afternoon 1-4 or if not that, then Wednesday night or Tuesday night. (and I did not just skate a little bit. I was on the floor all the time skating HARD, dancing and jumping and working) I doubt I could have got Roller Skating to count... though my daughter's online high school required students to keep a log of physical activity for their PE requirement, and she could count roller skating, cycling and all the various physical activities she enjoyed. She could have easily fulfilled her requirement just with the amount of walking she did from one friend's house to another. (I could have too at that age. I walked or rode my bike everywhere.)
So the short answer here is YES, some form of physical fitness needs to be required. NO I don't believe that PE class as it stands fills that role at all. Children need to have a certain requirement, and if they fill that requirement in after school sports in a given quarter that should count, a documentable physical activity outside of school, such as a martial arts class or step aerobics class should count. they should otherwise have choices about what their activity is. In some cases this would take the burden off the school, and in some cases (offering more diverse classes) put more on. However I think it would balance out, and more students would be healthy and active.
When I was in school I thought it sucked ass to be required to take PE. However, it had more to do with the nature of the class than the fact it was required. Instead of being what was intended by the class, which was to get children to be more active and physically fit, it had started to pretend to be some kind of actual educational experience. We would have to learn a bunch of crap about various sports and then take tests? on the rules of basketball? Seems to me that learning to play a sport is the physical part. who cares if you can remember the rules enough to take a test on it at the end of that segment playing outside of gym class?
Funny thing is that now, with American children just getting fatter and fatter, I do think that some form of PE should be mandatory all the way through high school and maybe also in college. When I was in school, plenty of kids were in rotten shape, but there were generally in my class of approximately 525 students only five or six girls who were significantly overweight, and only maybe MAYBE two who were morbidly obese. When I was in elementary school there was only ONE girl and ONE boy who were heavy, and both of them were still capable of decent levels of activities, and perfectly capable of running and playing games with the other kids. Now, I see kids at the elementary school level and see that at least half of them are fat. FAT. and probably a quarter of them are Obese and morbidly Obese at a very young age. By high school level these kids are really struggling with their bodies and the kind of gym class that they're forced to take by then are nothing but torment and ridicule. That's not helping them. Also, at the elementary level, children need to be exposed to more sports than just dodge ball, and kick ball, and running back and forth. When I was in elementary school that was almost all we ever did... and races... usually weird races. Sometimes we climbed the rope. Most of us couldn't do it, but most of us wanted to try, but it was so rarely an activity, that we weren't ever given much of a chance to get better at it.
Physical Education needs to be EVERY day in elementary school, not once or twice a week like we had it. It should include physical activity, but it should also involve teaching children about proper diet. What to eat and how much to eat. By Junior High Health and PE should start branching off. Instead of forcing children to take one multifunctional class that barely touches on the interests of most children, children need to start having some choices. Even more so in high school. The point is to have physical activity. why force Children to jack around with a bunch of different things they don't enjoy and spend a couple of weeks on each one, so that the two or three sports they really do get into, they only get to do for a short time.
Example 1: I was not into most team sports. It wasn't that I wasn't a team player, and I was physically fitter than most of my contemporaries. however, I was better at and enjoyed more individual sports. I was an avid skater *not practical in the gym maybe, though when my gym teacher ridiculed me for not being good at basketball which I hated and didn't care if I was any good at it, I pointed out that if we learned about roller skating, that I'd run circles around everyone in the class, and could probably teach the class. (I was actually hired to teach a little girl some higher level skating technique like dance steps and jumps when I was about 16)
Example 2: While most of the other students groaned at the twice yearly physical fitness training that we did, I liked doing that. I liked seeing how I progressed during that two week period. I would have gladly traded in everything else to just do physical fitness training every day for an hour instead of learning dumb games I wasn't interested in ever playing. Flag football? Field hockey? (well ok... field hockey wasn't too bad.) Dodge ball? What possible application does dodge ball have other than being a way for some students to legally abuse other students? I can't tell you how many times I witnessed one student being beaned in the face, had glasses broken, knocked down, etc by another student, usually a bully while the gym teacher turned a blind eye, CHEERED the bully for getting the point, or ridiculed the 'loser" or called them a baby for being upset at being bullied by a game that has really no relevance in the real world.
Example 3: I loved the gymnastics and artistic dance segment, and for us that actually was a team activity. You generally worked up a routine with a group of four, and that was pretty cool. Generally speaking, there were certain moves that everyone had to be able to accomplish, and the team members had to work with each other to encourage each other. We had to think about ways to help our teammates get all the moves into the routine, by working out the routine in a way that another teammate was there to spot or assist on a move that one teammate was having trouble with. It was great cooperation, with problem solving to accomplish a goal. I was into that.
Point of these examples is, a lot of others really weren't into the things I was , and it seems silly that they had to waste time on this, and I had to waste time learning basketball and baseball. A lot of the heavy kids would have done much better and probably been a lot happier about the forced physical activity if they'd been given options that worked better for them. For example, a tai chi class, or pilates, coupled with some discussion of proper diet and portion control, would have brought them a long ways into perhaps the following year, taking a more intensive martial arts class, or an aerobics class. What we need here are options. Help children feel good about their bodies by teaching them HOW TO TAKE CARE OF THEM. Do so, by giving them OPTIONS about WHAT their activity is.
When I was in school, we had no aerobics, no martial arts or self defense of any kind (which we definitely should have had), there were extra curricular activities such as a kickline that girls could try out for. It was for the girls who were not of an elite enough social class to have even a remote chance as a cheer leader (no matter how good they were) but even then, there was a try out and if you didn't know the right people, you could forget about it.) This was the case with the majority of the sports after school, and if you were in a sport, you were still forced to take curriculum time to take PE... That's my other gripe. If a child is actively in a sport, they should not be forced to take PE. That includes in school and out of school. If a child is taking a martial arts class two or three days a week, and it's outside of school, they shouldn't be having class time wasted with PE. I guarantee they're getting more physical activity per week those three days than they would in PE running away from bullies at dodge ball or trying throw a ball in a hoop. I'm just saying. I skated sometimes as much as 20 hours a week. Any session I could scrape up the money to go to, get permission and a ride to, I was all over it. Friday night from 7 to 11 then straight on from 11-2, then back to the rink on Saturday for the afternoon session from 1-4, then off to the mall for a couple hours and then back to the rink for Saturday night 7-11 and then 11-2. Then back for the Sunday afternoon 1-4 or if not that, then Wednesday night or Tuesday night. (and I did not just skate a little bit. I was on the floor all the time skating HARD, dancing and jumping and working) I doubt I could have got Roller Skating to count... though my daughter's online high school required students to keep a log of physical activity for their PE requirement, and she could count roller skating, cycling and all the various physical activities she enjoyed. She could have easily fulfilled her requirement just with the amount of walking she did from one friend's house to another. (I could have too at that age. I walked or rode my bike everywhere.)
So the short answer here is YES, some form of physical fitness needs to be required. NO I don't believe that PE class as it stands fills that role at all. Children need to have a certain requirement, and if they fill that requirement in after school sports in a given quarter that should count, a documentable physical activity outside of school, such as a martial arts class or step aerobics class should count. they should otherwise have choices about what their activity is. In some cases this would take the burden off the school, and in some cases (offering more diverse classes) put more on. However I think it would balance out, and more students would be healthy and active.