rcfreak339 wrote:I'm lol'ing at all these posts. P.E. stands for "Physical Education" it's a class to promote healthy living and life style. At my school we have 4 semesters in and 2 quarters per semesters. We split it up, The First semester we talked about health (Nutrition, Drugs, Sex Ed, ect...) then the next semester we did P.E. Yeah sure we did stretches and played a game. But we learned about team work and the game itself. If we didn't want to play, we didn't have to. But really what does it hurt to not just go out there and try? I HATE Soccer, but heck I played it. I HATE Vollyball but I still tried it....P.E. Should not and will not be banned. If it ever does happen, we will all see the effects and they will NOT be good.
-Cody "God, Family, University of Kentucky Wildcats!"
There are possibly two factors that account for your disagreement with us. There clearly is a difference between the mandatory P.E. of the Baby Boomer generation and P.E. today, which is in a state of change. Different approaches to P.E. are taken at different schools, ranging from the traditional sports-centered P.E. to the innovative PE4Life program (which actually does a very good job of promoting physical fitness for all students). Apparently, you are a teenager. Ray, Greencom, Fat Man, and I are middle-aged men in our fifties. So, one of the factors is our age difference. The second factor is that you apparently have an athletic background or at least have an interest in sports. None of the middle-aged members of this forum had an interest in sports when we were kids. I would suggest to you that nonathletic kids historically have been treated differently in traditional sports-centered P.E. from athletic kids.
Your P.E. class sounds like it is more humane (albeit slightly) than the P.E. we were forced to take when we were kids in school. What is truly amazing is that even physically handicapped kids of our generation were forced to take P.E. This defies common sense. Fat Man had suffered permanent injury to one of his knees in a car wreck at the age of four, and therefore was physically incapable of running and could walk with only a limp. Greencom was born with an eye defect that left him without depth perception. Despite their physical handicaps, they were forced to take P.E. anyway! They also were subjected to constant bullying by athlete P.E. classmates, who didn't even have the decency to give them a pass because of their physical handicaps. And to top it off, none of their coaches cared to stop the bullying.
Over the years I have heard horror stories from other nonathletic guys of my generation who weren't physically handicapped. They were frequently bullied as well simply for not being good at sports. If you doubt that what I'm saying is true, do a Google search on bullying in P.E. classes and take the time to actually do some research. This is not a laughing matter. I notice you mention God in your credo. If you really do follow God and are not just saying the name of God to make yourself look good or to make yourself feel good about yourself, you will not turn a deaf ear to those who suffer. Perhaps you need to learn a bit about compassion, not to mention listening to what others have to say. There are a lot of people who say "God" but have absolutely no idea what it means to serve God, and there are a lot of people who say they love God but are just hypocrites.
I don't favor banning P.E. I favor the
reform of P.E. I recommend that you also do Google searches on PE4Life, Phil Lawler (the P.E. coach who developed this innovative program), and Tim McCord (another P.E. coach who is one of the leading proponents of PE4Life). Again, don't just take a cursory glance at a website or two. Take the time to do research.
You seem to not understand that there is a difference between promoting sports and promoting physical fitness. In the traditional approach, the physical fitness needs of the physically weak and the overweight students were ignored. Instead, these kids were often humiliated. Not exactly a good way to promote physical fitness, I'd say. I know of what I speak from my own childhood experience. I took mandatory P.E. from the time I was in the 4th grade through junior high. (Thankfully, I didn't have to take P.E. in high school because I was a band student. I heard that the P.E. classes at my high school were rather hellish for nonathletic guys.) I had different P.E. teachers and coaches; so, I can say that what I experienced as a nonathletic boy was not aberrational. Other nonathletic guys of my generation with whom I have spoken about this issue had the same experience.
In all the years I was forced to take P.E. in school, I never heard any of the teachers or coaches mention exercise programs (which are the best and most efficient way for nonathletes to get into shape). Weightlifting wasn't even mentioned! You can't make the assumption that nonathletic boys in elementary and junior-high school have all heard about exercise programs. The first time I ever heard of any exercise program was when I was in high school. Furthermore, in all of my P.E. classes, the assumption seems to have been made that all boys were athletes, which is utter nonsense. Nonathletic boys were never offered any help to actually develop athletic skills. When I was a kid, I heard of "Remedial English" and "Remedial Math." The notion of remedial P.E. would have been greeted as a joke.
You seem to fail to realize that different students have different physical fitness needs. Suppose an obese boy is forced to play baseball, a policy that you seem to be inclined to support. What exercise does he get? His teammates will hate him because he is a drag on the team. The type of exercise that is needed for weight reduction is
constant movement, not waiting for one's turn to bat. There are those who say that P.E. should be mandatory because of the increased incidence of obesity in children, yet forcing them to take traditional P.E. classes in which they will surely be teased mercilessly and humiliated for being fat will not cause them to lose weight. Instead, they are likely to gain even more weight as they turn to food for comfort. (No, I've never been overweight. So, you need not use that tired old line.) The fact of the matter is that those who mindlessly favor imposing sports upon nonathletic kids, as opposed to those who truly are concerned about obese kids from a medical standpoint, really don't care about the well-being of these kids. They just don't like the way they
look because they themselves are incredibly shallow and judge people solely on the basis of their physical appearance.
I fail to see the rationale for nonathletic students being forced to play games in which they are not interested. Some kids just aren't competitive; and some just have no interest in games of any sort, let alone sports. I thought sports were supposed to be a form of recreation, but those who have favored the traditional approach to P.E. turned sports into something to be hated by nonathletic kids. Why don't we force all high-school students to play chess and, furthermore, force them to participate in matches with classmates who have been playing chess for years? Imagine the outrage that would take place on the part of those who would not think that this was such a great idea.
Finally, unlike you, I know what I'm talking about
because I have been on both sides. Two years ago I joined a 24 Hour Fitness where I have since worked with a personal trainer on a bodybuilding program. The difference between my health club experience (which has been quite enjoyable and even therapeutic for me) and the lousy P.E. that I was forced to take when I was a kid (which was nothing less than an exercise in hypocrisy) is as great as day and night. The fact of the matter is that in the P.E. classes I was forced to take,
I got very little exercise. I've gotten more exercise in a single workout session with a personal trainer than I ever did in a single
year of junior-high P.E.
I feel very strongly about this issue. That's why I've taken the time to make such a lengthy response. It's that important. Our position on P.E. is quite reasonable. We favor keeping the traditional sports-centered P.E. classes as an
elective for the athletic kids and any other kids who simply
want to participate in sports. A true physical fitness alternative should be available for nonathletic kids. If that is not to be provided for them, then they should not be forced to take what we middle-aged nonathletic guys came to dread and what kids such as our members Sergey and blackdog4444 continue to experience today. (Incidentally, this is also the position of Polite24 and SportsGuy92, the two members of this forum who are critical of this website). You have yet to provide an adequate defense for your own position; so, don't be so smug.